We awoke early, with the assistance of the alarm clock, to discover the heavens open + pouring out their contents at an enormous rate. If it hadn’t been that we had already bought our tickets to go to the Great Wall, we should most certainly have stayed in bed, that being the only place to stay on such a day. But we didn’t want to lose the money, so set off on a horrible journey into town, splashing down the main road, with water up over our ankles, in torrential rain. We wore our ponchos, but they were entirely useless within 10 mins. The one consolation was that we were able to get seats on the bus. Not that it was exactly comfortable, sitting on a cold + draughty bus when already soaked to the bones. It was also but a relatively brief respite, for we had to change to a different bus to get to where the tour originated, giving the elements an opportunity to give is a fresh soaking.
The tour bus was late too – no warm haven ready + waiting. When it did arrive, + we had all run to it + scrambled aboard, there was quite a lengthy discussion among the passengers. It was in Chinese, of course – we were the only whites aboard – but luckily a young boy there, an “overseas” Chinese from America, I would judge, was able to translate for us, so we weren’t left entirely in the dark. Somebody had proposed postponing the trip until tomorrow, + one could see the point in that. The rain was still so fierce that nobody would get off the bus, washing the trip out in more than one way. For ourselves, however, we felt that having gone to all the effort of fighting to get here, earl;y in the morning, we preferred to give it a go, + just hope that the weather would clear. When asked, we expressed these feelings, tho’ we were realistic enough to realise, that if we were the only dissenters, we would not be left with much choice: the bus would not take us alone. Fortunately, our view was the one that prevailed, either thro’ the weight of democratic majority or otherwise, I’ve no idea which.
So, shoes + socks were removed, the latter wrung out + left to dry, + gradually we all did the same. It turned out to be the right decision, luckily. Almost immediately, the sky brightened, gradually the rain stopped, + by lunchtime the sun had come out, presaging a glorious afternoon. Our first stop of the day was at the Ming tombs (tho’ Val was a little disoriented + thought we might have arrived at the Great Wall already.) We had not heard wonderful things about the Ming tombs, + in this we were not disappointed. The external structure was alright but disappointing, but descending into the tomb itself was made remarkable by the total absence of anything to see. One chamber did contain some large, plain, unadorned wooden boxed, simpler housing for the decayed original bodies. The large box contained the King, we were told; a slightly smaller one the Queen; + smaller ones yet for lesser figures. Stunning stuff. They’d be turning in their tombs to see their new Spartan accommodation. We spent quite long enough at the place (or a little more so, perhaps) but our ordeal was not over, for we piled back on the bus only to be taken a mile or 2 down the road to another tomb. This one had not been excavated, so had no underground vault to visit – a scarcely concealed blessing.
And then a lunch stop beyond that at a café right next to an enormous dam. I wasn’t able to work out if the café or the dam were the greater attraction. Luckily, the sun was out, so it made a pleasant enough break. And then, finally, onto the Wall itself, arriving there at 1 o’clock (tho’ I thought, by a casual glance at someone’s watch, that it was 12 – this was to cause us some fun a little later.) Quite by chance we took a back way up on to the top of the wall itself, thus entirely avoiding paying whatever small sum they were charging for entrance. The Wall was not at all disappointing, hugely wide on top, tho’ too steep in this section to ride horses along, as I’d heard they once did. It snaked along the top of the mountain ridges. This was a revelation for Val, who had had the idea that it travelled along flat prairies. This was much better, considerably more dramatic.
There were far too many people of course, but we set off at a good pace along the top to the north (or possibly west – left, anyway), + soon enough had left just about everyone behind. We had to be back at the bus at 2.30, but that still gave us plenty of time to get out a fair way, stop for a picnic lunch, for which we had come well-prepared, before strolling back. So it came as a rude interruption top our picnic to discover that it was now 2 o’clock, necessitating a mad gallop back. Luckily, the return journey was almost entirely downhill, so we made it back comfortably. The Wall had been great. My only complaint had been of the Chinese tourists, who allowed their infants to use the sentry-buildings as shit-houses.
We didn’t arrive back in time to go to the restaurant we had intended, so had a meal of dumplings almost by default. We’ve eaten too may dumplings + have now gone off them. Returned in good time to watch the Olympics, only to discover that all available televisions had been appropriated for a Kung Fu film on the other channel. Pissed us off proper.
Though the rest of the outing was disappointing, the Wall was great, justifying its position on various world lists (including being seen from space, apparently, though is that a myth?)
