Yong
took us out to Muntianyu, a section of the Great Wall which was recently
restored, and is supposed to be more scenic than the usual tourist section
at Badaling. Scenic is not the right word. Dramatic, awe inspiring,
terrifying are all much better words. The best word might be high.
When we arrived at the Great Wall, our hearts leapt when we saw the tell-tale
towers of a gondola lift, (sorry not in the photo, although neither is
the alpine slide) to take tourists up the mountain to the Wall, but since
it was low season, and there were few tourists, it was closed. We
had to walk. Now for perspective, the wall is 2500 miles long, about
20 feet high in most places, and runs along the top of mountain ridges
as an additional barrier to protect the ancient border of China.
As we struggled up the 1000 steps up the mountain to the Wall, the thought
occurred that perhaps the mountains were barrier enough?
This
is a view north from the top of the Wall. In addition to serving
as a barrier, the Wall was a road, allowing much faster communications
in Northern China. Sort of an early telephone. Basically, behind Chris,
the Wall extends a few hundred miles to the ocean, and in front of him,
the wall extends another 2000 miles. It follows the ridges and mountain
tops for most of the way, which must have made it tough to get a good dinner
for the soldiers posted there. Not many restaurants. I bet
they had great t.v. reception though. All of the wall in this photo
is restored. Even the restoration must have been a massive task,
hauling bricks, mortar, stone, and timbers all the way up the mountain.
We had a tough time hauling our camera and water bottle up.
All along the wall are women selling water
and soda "Cold water, Cold water, Hello, Cold water, very cheap".
Also, there are men who will pose with you for a buck. This fellow
was particularly persuasive so we sprung for it. (The photo is from
the middle of the negotiation, when Chris suggested that maybe a dollar
was too much?) There were also some women wandering around saying
"Lady wanna braid?" Oh wait, that was the Bahamas, sorry.
Construction began sometime in the
5th century, and continued piecemeal until the 16th century when the Ming
emperors made a concerted effort to strengthen and unify the wall.
The final result was 2500 miles long, and cost the lives of hundreds of
thousands of Chinese. The Chinese emperors lived in the Forbidden
City, a walled city that they very rarely left so it must have seemed natural
to them to want to wall in their country. They tried to protect their
familiar society from the uncivilized nomadic tribes of Manchuria and Mongolia
which, of course did not work. In fact the last Imperial dynasty,
the Qing, were Manchurians who swept down over the wall and overwhelmed
an ingrown and weak Ming dynasty.
After a thoroughly exhausting morning at
the Wall, we went back to the hotel, and prepared for some shopping in
"Silk Valley", a little alley near our hotel lined with about a hundred
little booths selling everything from scarves and kimonos, to "Timberland"
jackets, and more. Also, approximately every 15 feet, someone would
approach us and offer us CD's and CD-ROM's. Not having a CD player,
or time to listen, we declined, but it took some effort. We were
a little disappointed that we did not encounter any Black Sabbath influences,
or t-shirts, but we will soldier on.
By the end of the day, Beth was getting
tired, and I knew it was time to get her back to the hotel when she started
humming "Kung Fu Fighting" in the restaurant as we were finishing dinner.
Our only disagreement so far came when we disagreed over who sang it.
So we decided that would be the next TRIVIA QUESTION. Submit responses
to email@bethandchris.com.