B for Beijing, and The Wall
Forbidden City, Beijing
Travelling from A to B cost me a day. B was Beijing, my final stop and keeper of boyhood marvels - The Great Wall of China. I only had one altercation on my way in - a helpful taxi driver with a dodgy meter.
To my surprise the English lads that I had met in Shanghai were still holed up in Beijing, running a few auctions on Ebay to add to their travel funds. Next day the lads and I walked out of the hostel’s alleys (lined with authentic ‘made in China’ tshirts and ‘dubbed in China’ DVDs) and in 2 blocks stepped onto the worlds largest square, site of the infamous Tiananmen Square Massacre. Mao lies here in the Mao Memorial Hall that I had no inclination to visit. Instead, we passed through this great space filled with Chinese tourists on the last day of their Golden Week holidays and a number of the guards to the vast complex on the other side - The Forbidden City.
Forbidden City, View from hill behind
The Forbidden City - what a good name, I thought. I will go there.
Fortunately this grand complex, which was the Chinese imperial palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties, was also forbidden to be destroyed by Maos Red Guards in their rampant purge of the old. It was of course fabulous and grand as an Imperial Palace should be even if it was slightly overrun by domestic tourists and the main palace being under renovation presumably for the Beijing Olympics. We managed to lose our orientation in its alleyways, and behind its outer walls we walked up a hill for a vista out over the smog shrouded ancient city. I can’t however say that it captured my imagination in the way that the Taj Mahal had done, or even Thailands Grand Palace with its lesser history.. I wondered if I have been too lucky to lay eyes on so many of Asia gems.
With some time left in the day I caught the subway out to the ‘Silk Markets’, markets of all things with prices on none. I had Tony and Allens price guide as they had worked it out the day before and with some shifty haggling of my own I pulled home a few bargains - an Armani long jacket for about $30NZ, Adidas trainers for $17 and a sexy Cheong-sam dress for Naomi-chan. Interesting thing - on the tube out there between the Jianguomen and Yonganli stops videos play on the walls outside the train, and because of the constant speed of the train and the frame rate it runs like a movie as the train flys by. Cool advertising.
The Secret Wall, so called
The SECRET Wall
Our excursion to the ’secret’ wall, as it was billed by Leo’s hostel, was dominated by 5 raving Belgiuns. The idea was to go to an untouristed and unrestored section of the wall. It was raining for the first hour or so out of Bejing but it let up as we arrived at our secret spot. We walked up to and onto the crumbling wall on the ridge. Was this it? THE great wall? It looked anything but great but I let myself believe. The sides of the walls had crumbled off and vegetation contested with the path. We made it to the first few towers but then our guide decided he’d had enough and stopped. It certainly wasn’t enough for myself and 3 of the others and so we pressed up the wall at a more excited pace and slowly the wall seemed to transform itself. And with each step I let the magic of the wall turn the pages of history in my mind. The sides of the wall reappeared, original and still strong with arrows slits. It was steeper, the towers in better condition, and then as though by the breath of a dragon the mist floated in. Beautiful. Silence. This was what I was here for. A short time later we heard the pounding of drums and knew this was a signal to return to the small village where we were warmly welcomed and fed a small feast.
Walking on the Wall.
Meeting back up with the lads in Beijing that evening we were hungry and smacking our lips for some famous Peking Duck. With guidebook recommendations it shouldnt have been too difficult. Yet we were still led around the block in Taxis thanks to some horrible 1 way roads. They’ll have to sort that out before the Beijing Olympics. We pulled up in a side street to see a comical collection of a dozen cycle rickshaws. These beauties had velvet seats and signs saying they will take us to the Liqun Roast Duck Restaurant. We laughed them off as they tagged along behind us. Then amongst the maze of slightly delapidated houses we arrived. Western tourists looking significantly more well off than us backpackers were lining up out the door. And they had reservations! Photos on the wall showed some foreign dignataries had dined inside these walls which must say something for the duck as there was nothing to be said about the walls. We moved on. And not too far away we got what we came for. Peking Duck and it was yummy yummy yummy.
Great Wall of China at Mutianyu
My final day was a Monday, the Golden Week of holidays were over for the masses. So I took the chance to return to the Great Wall rather than explore more sites in Beijing. Mutianyu is one of the Great Wall sites that has enjoyed (rather than suffered from) some gentle restoration and isnt as touristed as some. With an Aussie and Kiwi I met in at the hostel we walked the open section of the wall for about 4 hours. The landscape on the north side is dramatic and a pretty decent natural barrier from attack without adding a wall you would’ve thought. So in contrast to the ’secret wall’ of the previous day, the wall at Mutianyu gave me an experience of the wall in its former prime.
However I haven’t mentioned the tobagan I took down from the wall, nor the gondala I took up… Am I getting soft? Those gimmicks jolted my dreams of the history and the romance of the wall. I tried to turn a blind eye. Noone wants to see the Great Wall degraded to a theme park.
btw, to settle the myth that the great wall is the only man-made object able to be seen from space Click 
And confirmation that in China the internet is censored. Search Tiananmen Square in google and instead of the usual tanks rolling in there are nothing but blocked images and pages ‘not found’.
Photos as always in the photolog.
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