Sunday July 17th
This morning we were off by 9:00 for the hour and a half drive to the Muttianyu section of the Great Wall of China. Penny decided to take the cable car to the top and we waited for Rally to buy her a ticket and get our tickets. Meanwhile we hung around the tourist market mayhem and listened to the hawkers try to sell us stuff. I found a man who would engrave your name on a stamp. This is something I wanted to do in Water Town but the electricity went off and he couldn't use his drill. So, I asked this guy if he could do it. He agreed, but he'd have to cut a piece of jade off a stamp and then engrave it for me and I could pick it up on the way down. So, I agreed, spelled my name and gave him a deposit. I looked at t-shirts and other stuff, but I told the seller (a different guy) that I didn't want to carry anything up the hill, so the guy told me he'd remember me on the way down.
At last we were underway and began to climb the hundreds of steep rock steps to get to the wall. The weather was warm and humid and it wasn't long before we were drenched in sweat. Finally we got there and we were standing on a portion (lookout number 8) of the Great Wall! From where we were standing we could see a section of the wall running up and down hills in both directions. Unfortunately the view was hampered by the haze in the air. I think it is a combination of humidity haze and pollution. A clear day would be wonderful, but... We had to head over to lookout number 6 to meet Penny. Paul and I headed over to lookout 10 first to see the view. It was steeping climbing up and down to get to the other lookouts. Then we headed over to lookout 6. Paul decided to head back to 10 and further along. I followed Danny and Jason and a few others towards lookout number 1. On the way we met a man dressed in the Communist uniform who was selling drinks. We asked him to take a couple of photos of us with him. He obliged and we had fun talking to him. We continued on and I went all the way to the first lookout from which you cannot go further. It ends in a dead end, as from there it is in ruin and not restored. So we doubled back and I bought beers for the three of us from the Communist. He took pictures of us drinking the beer on the wall, how cool is that? We continued on enjoying the view and taking photos. Unfortunately we had to leave and met up with the group again. I would have loved to have stayed longer and be able to hike the whole distance from lookout 1 to 25, but not to be.
Some of group went down by the toboggan run, but Sarah, Paul and I climbed back down. There was the t-shirt hawker waiting for me. I bought a t-shirt and a medal saying I'd climbed the wall from him. It was a lot of fun haggling with him, as he had a great sense of humour. I got it for about a quarter of what he wanted originally. Then I went to the engraver. He showed me the piece of jade and proudly showed me my name stencilled out in English! I broke out laughing, because I thought he was going to do it in Chinese characters, which in my mind was the whole point. So, I asked him to flip it over and engrave my name again. Of course it cost me a bit more. I wandered down a bit further and saw some Communist buttons, but the guy wanted a 150 yuan. I knew they should be about 20 yuan, so I just walked away as he kept yelling 'What do I want to pay?' Then I found a woman who was painting beautiful Chinese pictures inside small glass bottles. I couldn't believe the work involved. I asked her what one cost and she told me 150! The same as those mass produced buttons. I bought a bottle from her. Rally saw me and said I could get it for a better price and wanted to bargain for me, but I cut her off. I couldn't in all conscience devalue her effort and talent by haggling. I thought the price was more than reasonable.
Then it was time to get on the bus for the one and a half hour drive back to Beijing. We stopped at a food court area in an indoor market mall. I had a quick bowl of dumpling noodle soup and then did a bit of last minute shopping. On the way back Rally negotiated with the driver that he would drop us off at the Heavenly Temple. We paid our admission and walked around the site. Unfortunately, it rained on us a bit and made picture taking difficult. It is a huge complex with many buildings and artifacts from the era. The highlight is the large circular pagoda on top of the hill. Beautiful and peaceful place. From there we took the subway back and walked the 15 minutes to the hotel.
We met up with Rally and the whole group at 7:00 and walked to a nearby restaurant for our last dinner together. Rally ordered a variety of dishes including Peking (Beijing) duck. The sliced duck is served with the other dishes and then they brought us soup made from the carcasses and then later the deep fried bones, which were like unseasoned KFC. We had a few beer and a really good time. We had collected a tip for Rally and I was asked to speak on our behalf. After thanking her for her efforts, I took the opportunity to thank the group for making the last leg of my year long adventure so memorable. This was a really great group of people who bonded very well in a week and with whom I had a great time. We were kicked out about ten and walked back to the hotel where we called it a night, and sadly a trip.
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