The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
April 24 - The Great Wall
The first stop of the day was to pick up our tickets for the cruise down the Yangtze next week. We were well off the beaten path in a crowded neighborhood, so while Miao took care of the details, we waited in the car as the daily life of Beijing literally flowed around us. The communications system seems to be a work in progress!
Then it was off through the morning traffic on a day that really felt like spring. We headed a couple of hours out of town to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. The toughest part of places like this -- other than a seemingly endless uphill trek -- is running the gauntlet of vendors who live off the tourist industry.
It is hard to fathom what it must have taken to construct this wall ... and we are only seeing a very small portion of it. In looking at the terrain, I wonder why they even thought they needed it! A mountain goat would have a tough time crossing this terrain! Most of the wall is out in the open but one section looked positively bucolic!
Walking the wall is not for the faint of heart (or weak of knee!) There are a LOT of ups and downs ... and some pretty severe ones at that. The downs are almost as tough as the ups and they all take a toll on aging legs.
We took a gondola up to this section of the wall and after walking/climbing for an hour or so, our options were either to re-trace our steps (not going to happen), walk down (also not a big vote-getter) or take the chairlift. Of course, if you were a visitop (no typo -- I am just reading the sign) you must obey the rules ... among them, no imgtable exploding erooing or stinking materials and no somking, frohcking or swaying ... but I hope you would never do things like that (whatever they are) anyway! Readers over 40 can just click on the photo for a version large enough to read! Signs are fun here!
© 2008 Restaurant Doctor
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