The Great Wall
by Patricia on 03/25/13
He did it. He about killed himself, but he did it. We had an hour and a half to get as far as we could get on the part of the Great Wall of China located almost 2 hours from Beijing.
At 7:30 AM we were waiting for our bus and Michael, our guide, to appear. As we loaded the bus along with 37 others, we realized that this was why we had traveled 15 hours in a plane in absurdly small seats…to see and walk on the Great Wall of China.
Michael took the travel time to educate us a bit about departure city – Beijing. In Chinese Bei means north, jing means capital, hence Beijing, the North Capital. Beijing covers 16,800 sq kilometers. It is 24 times bigger than Hong Kong. The part of the Great Wall we were traveling to was still IN Beijing though it was hours away.
Beijing (its Mandarin name) is used interchangeably with Peking (it’s Canotonese name) causing some confusion. For instance: PEK is the symbol for the Beijing airport; locals attend Peking Operas and eat Peking ducks. Michael warned that the Peking Opera could also be called the Screaming Opera; that before attempting attendance one should study the opera because without the education the performance will be frustrating at best. The traditional Peking Opera lasts 4 hours, modern abbreviated forms one and a half hours. Older folks love the traditional while the middle generation prefers Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber – according to Mike.
The First Great Wall of China, was created in 1368. It’s intent was to keep out the Mongolian hoards(who fled to the area now known as Hungary) and unify the 7 kingdoms. The Ming Great Wall was a mere 600 years old, 30 feet high and 6000 kilometers long (roughly the distance from Los Angeles to New York). It took 200 years to build and 25 percent of the laborers died on the job. The part of the wall we were headed to was 50 miles away from the City. Mike claimed that the great wall resembles a dragon when seen from space
It has been Terry’s Goal to walk on the Great Wall of China for years. I’m not sure if he knew what he was in for. Or maybe we just waited a little too long to do it. The weather was perfect – cool, a little windy, sunny. The guide told us to be back in an hour and a half…that was 45 minutes each way. I noticed he was the only gray haired guy climbing the wall and the only one with a backpack. One step at a time, he made it. I can only say it was harder than it looks.
When we arrived back at home base, Terry leaned against the lightpole for support. Although it was almost cold at times, his coat was soaked with sweat and his recently reconstructed hip and knees were stressed to the max. Still and all, he was above all else happy.
Happy to have done it, happy it was done.
