The visit to the Great Wall of China
I didn't sleep well last night, it may take a couple of more days to get over the jet lag. It will be time to go back then, oh well!
We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel, homemade granola with soy milk, fresh fruit, juice and green tea. Our car, driver and tour guide, Lily were ready to take us to the Great Wall, We were going to the Matiyung (maa tee yon) section of the wall which is about 70 kms north of Beijing. , would take us approximately 2 hours to get there.
Lily spoke good English, she has been a tour guide for 16 years! We drove through a village, it's known as the village of Longevity. It has a population of 350,000 - a small village by Chinese standard! The average life expectancy in this village is 88 years, whereas rest of the country is ~75. They grown their own fruits and veggies, all organic. Their peaches were humongous as compared to the US. You can't live in this village unless you have ancestors who lived there or marry into it.
After passing the village we stopped at a Jade showroom. China provides 80% of the world's jade! One of China's biggest jade mining is form this area. They had jade in various colors (didn't know jade could be in any other color but green), black, white, yellow, orange and purple. I bought a pendant with circular green jade with a Chinese character for happiness/peace and prosperity. The circular design also depicts happiness. I wanted to wear it right away but the sales lady said you can only wear it after 3 days (wearing before 3 days brings bad luck!!), you also can't wear it on the 4th day (the number 4 and 14 are considered unlucky in Chinese since 4 sounds like a word for bad luck).
Apoorva bought a jade male money dragon. The money dragon has a wide mouth to bring in good fortune but no outlet to let it out, so it retains your wealth. The male dragon has hi right paw n front, he is used to bring prosperity in your business. They female dragon has her left paw in front, she brings prosperity in house. The pair together is a yin-yang pair.
There is no good restroom facility from here on, we were asked to use the facilities before taking off from the showroom. The northern Beijing is surrounded by 3 mountains, The Dragon on the east side, The Tiger on the west side and Longevity on the north. The mountains are beautiful, we began our ascent after leaving the showroom, the view was breathtaking!
/hike
There were a lot of people at the Matiyung section, We had 3 options to go the wall from the parking lot:
I have no words to describe the wall, I know why it's called the great! It took my breathe away (The Taj Mahal had the dame effect on me). Apoorva and I decided to go all the way up to the mountain, to the point where you can no longer go any further. There are only some parts of the Wall that are restored and available for visit/hike. Every 30-50 meters there is watch tower made of stone, the watch towers were made for soldiers to keep an eye on Mongols. Lily said every watch tower "housed" about 10 soldiers. It was nice and cool inside the watch towers, many families took rest there or stopped to have a bite. We must have hiked about 2-3 miles and when we got to the top, just when we thought we were done, there was more!!! It was hot and we were sweaty, thirsty and tired. My feet were killing me, I didn't have good walking shoes and up hill hike and stairs were taking toll on my lower legs and feet. We decided to turn around. You just can't believe how this was built hundreds of years ago, such high up in the mountains!!!!
Lily said they used slaves to built the wall, everyone worked on one meal a day and never got to go home. Millions of people died building the wall and they were buried at the base of the wall. the wall is also a cemetery. When I asked her if Chinese people get married at the Wall, she frowned and said, "no, it's a cemetery", but at the same time they are very proud of the wall. I found it ironic.
While hiking on the wall, remembered Robert Frost's poem, "Miles to go before I rest...". It is just like life, just when you think, it's getting easier it doesn't, just when you think it's ending there is more and just when you think it's too hot there was a watch tower!!!
My calves and feet were sore but mind and heart were very happy! My skin was burning and throat dry, but mind and hart were very happy!
The toboggan ride down was fun!
Lily took us to a Chinese lunch at the area's best hotel. I got steamed broccoli, stir fried pumpkin (it was crinkle cut like potatoes) and roasted spicy green peppers. It was good and I was hungry. Did pop one Advil after lunch.
One if the most memorable days of my life!!!!
I didn't sleep well last night, it may take a couple of more days to get over the jet lag. It will be time to go back then, oh well!
We had a hearty breakfast at the hotel, homemade granola with soy milk, fresh fruit, juice and green tea. Our car, driver and tour guide, Lily were ready to take us to the Great Wall, We were going to the Matiyung (maa tee yon) section of the wall which is about 70 kms north of Beijing. , would take us approximately 2 hours to get there.
Lily spoke good English, she has been a tour guide for 16 years! We drove through a village, it's known as the village of Longevity. It has a population of 350,000 - a small village by Chinese standard! The average life expectancy in this village is 88 years, whereas rest of the country is ~75. They grown their own fruits and veggies, all organic. Their peaches were humongous as compared to the US. You can't live in this village unless you have ancestors who lived there or marry into it.
After passing the village we stopped at a Jade showroom. China provides 80% of the world's jade! One of China's biggest jade mining is form this area. They had jade in various colors (didn't know jade could be in any other color but green), black, white, yellow, orange and purple. I bought a pendant with circular green jade with a Chinese character for happiness/peace and prosperity. The circular design also depicts happiness. I wanted to wear it right away but the sales lady said you can only wear it after 3 days (wearing before 3 days brings bad luck!!), you also can't wear it on the 4th day (the number 4 and 14 are considered unlucky in Chinese since 4 sounds like a word for bad luck).
Apoorva bought a jade male money dragon. The money dragon has a wide mouth to bring in good fortune but no outlet to let it out, so it retains your wealth. The male dragon has hi right paw n front, he is used to bring prosperity in your business. They female dragon has her left paw in front, she brings prosperity in house. The pair together is a yin-yang pair.
There is no good restroom facility from here on, we were asked to use the facilities before taking off from the showroom. The northern Beijing is surrounded by 3 mountains, The Dragon on the east side, The Tiger on the west side and Longevity on the north. The mountains are beautiful, we began our ascent after leaving the showroom, the view was breathtaking!
/hike
There were a lot of people at the Matiyung section, We had 3 options to go the wall from the parking lot:
- Hike up hill for about an hour - not happening
- take a closed cable car
- take a chair lift on your way up and toboggan on the way down - winner
I have no words to describe the wall, I know why it's called the great! It took my breathe away (The Taj Mahal had the dame effect on me). Apoorva and I decided to go all the way up to the mountain, to the point where you can no longer go any further. There are only some parts of the Wall that are restored and available for visit/hike. Every 30-50 meters there is watch tower made of stone, the watch towers were made for soldiers to keep an eye on Mongols. Lily said every watch tower "housed" about 10 soldiers. It was nice and cool inside the watch towers, many families took rest there or stopped to have a bite. We must have hiked about 2-3 miles and when we got to the top, just when we thought we were done, there was more!!! It was hot and we were sweaty, thirsty and tired. My feet were killing me, I didn't have good walking shoes and up hill hike and stairs were taking toll on my lower legs and feet. We decided to turn around. You just can't believe how this was built hundreds of years ago, such high up in the mountains!!!!
Lily said they used slaves to built the wall, everyone worked on one meal a day and never got to go home. Millions of people died building the wall and they were buried at the base of the wall. the wall is also a cemetery. When I asked her if Chinese people get married at the Wall, she frowned and said, "no, it's a cemetery", but at the same time they are very proud of the wall. I found it ironic.
While hiking on the wall, remembered Robert Frost's poem, "Miles to go before I rest...". It is just like life, just when you think, it's getting easier it doesn't, just when you think it's ending there is more and just when you think it's too hot there was a watch tower!!!
My calves and feet were sore but mind and heart were very happy! My skin was burning and throat dry, but mind and hart were very happy!
The toboggan ride down was fun!
Lily took us to a Chinese lunch at the area's best hotel. I got steamed broccoli, stir fried pumpkin (it was crinkle cut like potatoes) and roasted spicy green peppers. It was good and I was hungry. Did pop one Advil after lunch.
One if the most memorable days of my life!!!!
