Bananas and the Great Wall

Our lives seem so small right now after experiencing such great wonders of the world. I have always enjoyed history, even the last few years taking 201 and 202 classes of Art/ History/ Literature at BYU just for the fun of it, but have never studied much about the ancient history of Asia. Yes, in art classes there were the very old art that came between Egyptian and Renaissance but I would kind of blank out during those in-between centuries. But yesterday and today they were all brought to life and put in perspective, as we became one of the 1.2 Billion people in China.

We have been very lucky on our trip to find a second English-speaking guide. This one was by rare chance as Kriss was hunting for our $100 taxi to the Wall. I thought it was too good to be true. But in the hunt Kriss was able to overhear English and one taxi driver was translating for her. He was a private guide for a couple that was on the cruise and had hired him ahead of time. But as luck would have it, he had 7-seat van and within an hour, after asking the couple if we could tag along, we were on the road for the 3-4 hour drive. Again the guide was a great help in answering questions and most of all helping take care of Dad.

Skip if you don’t want to read this: Building of Great Wall started as military fortification against intrusion tribes somewhere 770 BC – 475 BC, to prevent attacks from other states. Further construction was added during Wei, Qi and Sui dynasties. The section in Beijing in mainly remains from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Total length reaches 12,700 miles. We went the less crowded section call Mutianyu which was still very crowded. (They told us that the more popular Badaling area is so crowded that you can’t really even walk on the wall due to soo many people).

Upon arriving at the Wall you have to get through the conglomerate of many tourists booths and being accosted by many sellers to buy their goods, from water, to “I walked the Wall t-shirts, to various men wanting us to pay them 400 Yuen ($60) to pull Dad up the very steep slant cobbled path in a recherché type car. Instead Ed pushed him most of the way, with Dad walking a portion holding on to Kriss and I. And that was all just to get to the cable car. We enjoyed the 5-6 minute ride up. Then another path and very steep steps to get onto the wall. We made it, took pictures, then our guide gratefully took Dad down on the cable car to meet us 1 hour later at the car. He pointed us in the direction to “Walk the Wall” for two miles, then the reward of taking a 5-minute toboggan ride back down in little individual carts. Many steep hills and stairs along the two miles of stone and brick.

At the bottom Ed purchased two bananas and some nuts for 50 Yuen. He didn’t calculate the difference after realizing they had pigeoned him for $7.00 US. “He was just helping out the local economy and the Bananas were good! We got our I Walked the Wall T-shirts for just less than $3.00 each so that tells you how much he paid for the bananas. Kriss and I got our magnets for a great price after haggling them down.

On our ride into Beijing towards our Marriott hotel for the overnight stay, we passed the Olympic venues of the Olympic Park Condos, the Birds Nest where the opening ceremonies were, and the Swimming Pools were Mark Phelps swam for the 8 Gold Medals, all on our way to “The Market” a huge 6 floor indoor flea market of name brand knockoffs. We laughed as the elevator opened to shoes of every kind as Ed and I had Crocs and were bragging to Kriss each day how comfortable they were, and right there the first booth had them. But in looking close we find CORCS embossed in bottom. Amazing that just changing one letter they can get away with selling them as the real thing. They didn’t have Kriss’s size. We spent the next hour being literally chased down the aisles to buy from various venders. Ed bought a wallet, now getting a new image as “Smart Man.” as he got them down to such a great price. Kriss a new purse as the lady kept pouting at each lower offer. Then Dad had been looking at belts and the vendor actually got on the elevator with us as we tried to leave, dropping the price with each floor. As we got off we had gotten the price down to $5.00 US. As we left I purchased a rhinestone hair clip (for $7 US), not having to haggle as our guide told me that was a good price.

We ended the day by checking into another fantastic gorgeous room at a Marriott, (thanks again Courtney!!)which with F&F we got for $112. We felt like we had made off like bandits until I went to the Executive Suite internet and was charged $25 US because I asked them to print an email about our Herriman House real estate and they charged me $3.00 US per page for 5 pages. I plan on writing a letter to Mr. Marriott and complaining. To print my email was as much as my whole night stay in a high rise Marriott. We were excited to sit down to our McDonalds dinner, which fed all of us for $12.00 US.

We awoke at 4:00 AM by habit, not buy choice, and so were raring to go by 7:30 when the guide picked us up. But even by 8:00 Tian’an Men Square was packed. (Size of 90 American Football fields—99 acres) Very long lines and more tour busses than you could count of people waiting to go through the Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum where his body is encased in a “crystal coffin”. No, we did not get in line to see him. I even had a difficult time standing for a group picture in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace where now hangs the familiar portrait of Mao.

Then we passed under the gate, through to “The Forbidden City”. A 7.75 million square ft/9,999 ½ rooms of Imperial Palace of the Emperor’s of China. (Room 10,000 reserved as Heaven.) For the next 2 ½ hours we wondered through pavilions and inner courtyards, and outer courtyards, including bridges and moats, that building was begun in 1420, 600 years ago, finished in 14 years with over 1 million workers, built with logs that took over 4 years to get here. Kriss and I touched the water pots with the golden lion heads for “Good Luck”.

We pulled into the train station with just a few minutes to spare, hunting deep into our hidden passport holders for every last coin to pay our guide. By putting all our Chinese Yuen and our American US dollars we came with in about a dollar of what we owed our guide. No tip…but Frommer’s said you don’t pay tips in China so we sadly explained to our guide and he understood as he had hunted for an ATM for us the last 15 minutes and hadn’t found one. So wishing him well and exchanging email addresses and a promise for a great recommendation on Trip Advisor we said goodbye and ran to ‘squat’ and then to the Bullet train. We made the trip back to the ship traveling at times up to the speed of 200 miles an hour. Wow! Bullet train was just added for the Olympics and the train stations alone were worth the experience. Then a 15-minute taxi ride and we were “home” 4 hours before the ship leaves.

Now as all the others sleep I write…trying to capture just a memo of what we experienced. But you will all have to see our photo books one day…. and be glad we don’t make you sit down to a slide show of it all.

Love to all,

Pam, Dad, Ed and Kriss