The Great Wall of China (or The Great China Wall as my mom likes to call it) and Where History Was Made a Little More Than a Year Ago.

When we got back to the Hostel on Saturday night we met up with Ben and Vinny who told us that they had booked the Great Wall trip, through the hostel, for Mutianyu. I was a little bit upset by this because Mutianyu is still pretty touristy. I wanted to go on the 10K trek on TGW that was between Simatai and Jinshanling which is supposed to be the less restored part of TGW. I accepted the adventure though I assumed that the two guys would want to go on a hike instead of the touristy part. But I think they also figured that they would want to go see the rest of Beijing when they got back and hoped that they wouldn’t be too tired.

Anyway, we were supposed to be up by 7 am and in the café area but we didn’t get up until around then so we hurried to get ready and then made our way to the café and had breakfast (which came with our ticket) and then hurried to get into the van to take the four of us, two other ladies and a Italian man to the wall.

While we were driving up to get to Mutianyu (about 2 hours), I kept thinking about what this trip means to me and exactly why I was so excited to do this whereas the other three weren’t AS off the wall. A bunch of people tend to think that I am not adventurous that I am a homebody that I don’t want to go out and see things and explore- see knew places. But I haven’t been asked the “where do you want to go, Neesha” type of question. I have wanted to see The Great Wall of China forever. I learned about it so many years ago and since then I have wanted to go. I have wanted to go since before my brother decided to take his Asian adventure-round-the-world trip and have been looking at pictures of The Great Wall of China for years now. I had wanted to go for so long and finally the day came when I was able to and it was so incredibly surreal. I know that I went to a more touristy part of the wall which was not quite what I wanted to do but it was definitely worth the experience.

We got to Mutianyu around 10am and my first thought was “Oh my gods there are so many tourists! I am going to hate this. This is not what I expected at all!” We had the option of hiking up the mountain (takes about 30 minutes to climb the steps or we could take the ski-lift up where we can see the view and the wall and it would only take around 5 minutes. We decided to take the ski lift because we were only really given about 3 hours on the wall and we wanted to make the most of it. We got on the ski lift (my first time EVER) and we headed up the mountain and it was so amazing. The view was absolutely gorgeous. All of the leaves were changing colors and the mountains in the background and you could see little villages set into the Mountains. Even though it was foggy/polluted, It was still so incredibly picturesque and wonderful.

When we got up to the top of the ski lift we had two options. We could either go to the right and go to the not so touristy part or we could go to the left and go to the more touristy part. We obviously sdecided to go to the right first and boy was that an adventure. It was characterized by EXTREMELY steep, uneven steps. It essentially went straight up and was very tiring. It just kept going and going and going. I felt really proud of myself when we got to the very top (where we were told we were not allowed to go further) and looked back and saw TGW stretching out for so long. Of course, we went further past the “no admittance sign” and onto the ruins of the wall. There were shrubs that had grown over on it and it was a winding path that ended at beat up ruins of a lookout tower. We climbed that and were in absolute awe of the scenery with the leaves changing and the remnants of The Great Wall stretching down the side of the mountain and up another mountain, deep deep into the mountains. It was beautiful to see and I cannot even imagine how it was built. I bet many of the people that built TGW probably had some sort of fear of heights and many more died trying to build it through all of the seasons. It was amazing.

We went back down the steps portion and we passed the ski lift and went up the other way. Ben and Vinny went scurrying off while Sumana probably went just as far as they did but took more time to enjoy the scenery and really take in the entire view. I really liked the more touristy part of the wall because there were trees that were growing on the side of the wall and the colors were changing and looked absolutely magnificent.

While we were walking we took the liberty of talking to some other people and Sumana started talking to this one fellow, in broken mandarin. He and his friend asked us if we were from India and because we didn’t want to go into all of the crazy details about our family and the moving processes we just said yes. We then met the cutest baby that was with his father or grandfather or uncle or someone and we ogled at it for awhile and then kept walking and then took some jumping pictures and after while we decided that we were going to get late so we started heading back when we met that same baby and its father/uncle somebody and I asked if I could hold the baby. I have a picture somewhere in my picasa but it was the cutest baby ever. The father/uncle/grandfather person let me hold it and I took a picture with both of them. 

We continued on our way and I saw a STEELERS FAN! He was wearing the hat and a sweatshirt and I yelled “Go Steelers” and he said the same back! I started walking back but then doubled back and asked to take a picture with him. I got a picture and then we started talking about where we are from (His wife is from Upper St. Clair) and then he asked what I was doing here and all that jazz. It was cool. Steelers Fans are EVERYWHERE. I love the City of Pittsburgh.


Anyway we went back down to the ski lift are and instead of taking the ski lift we decided to take a Toboggan down. It was so fun-speeding down the side of a mountain, through the woods with all of the leaves changing colors. It was definitely really touristy but soo much fun.

We got to the bottom of the hill and haggled with the shop/booth keepers and got some souvenirs and then met up with the rest of our group at a Chinese Restaurant which also came with our ticket to TGW. We were skeptical about some of the dishes but determined that there were 4/7 of them for herbivores and then we chowed down. It was pretty delicious-one of the best meals that I have had since arriving in East Asia. We had a tomato and green pepper dish and then some braised potato (YUM) and then some stir fried green beans (YUM) and some other stuff. We got to talk to the other people on our tour at that point. And I used my limited Spanish with the Italian man because he said that he could understand a little bit. At first I was pretty rusty with it and I couldn’t speak as quickly as I would have liked but by the end of the meal I was spouting off sentences and explaining why I was only in Florence, Italy for 4 hours when I went to Italy a couple years ago. He complimented me on my Spanish and my pronunciation, though I don’t feel that it was deserved. But I thanked him and we all went on our way back to Beijing.
We got back to Beijing and the four of us kind of relaxed for a few minutes. Ben and Vinny left to go to the Pearl Market and then we showered and ate dinner in the café and headed off to meet Elizabeth in the Olympic Village.

I was so excited to go to the Olympic Village. I absolutely loved the Beijing Olympics (minus the Chinese women gymnasts winning because they were definitely all 12-13 years old). I loved the Water Cube and the Birds Nest and I could not WAIT to get there.
We met up with Elizabeth and walked around the Olympic village and it was absolutely gorgeous! You could see the Bird’s nest with all of its colorful glory and the absolutely magnificent Water Cube. We, of course, attempted some jumping pictures but kind of failed and it was really windy and cold and it started to rain so we didn’t stay there for too long. I can’t believe I went to the Olympic Village where the most amazing, epic opening ceremonies was held, Michael Phelps won 8 Gold Medals and Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100 meter dash with his ridiculously fast legs.

I was a little bit upset because I had heard that they completely shut down the Water Cube. I wish they could find someway to keep these facilities open and running because I feel like they could be very useful and helpful. They have the Bird's Nest open for tours during the day time.

Overall the day was pretty amazing and I absolutely loved every minute of it. After the Olympic Village, Elizabeth and I parted ways for another 8 or 9 months until we see each other again. I can’t express how excited I was to see her. It was so wonderful to see a familiar face and after so many conversations about the A-factor (Asian –Factor) that we had in high school- who knew that we would end up meeting up in Asia! We have been friends for over 15 years and it was wonderful being able to adventure around Beijing with her. She said she is going to try and visit Hong Kong towards the end of the semester and I really hope that happens. I would love to show her around here.

Thanks for everything, Elizabeth! 15 years and going strong!