Beyond the Bucket List—Scaling the Great Wall of China and Visiting Beijing Olympics Park

Monday, August 13, 2-18

Janshanling Great Wall and Beijing Olympics Park

Today was another deeply challenging day for us in China but boy, how satisfying and fulfilling it turned out to be! We had a packed breakfast kept ready for us at 6.30 provided by Frank, hotel receptionist at our Red Capital Residence Hotel. Our Pick up for Jinshanling Great Wall Tour arrived at 7.15 am. Our guide was Chang (Chen), a very cheerful chap who was full of jokes and who saw us into the rigors of a very tough day. He took us in a taxi to a waiting coach. Then five minutes’ drive later, we were transferred to another coach for English speakers where we joined a large bunch of international tourists who preferred English as their language of communication even if they were not native speakers themselves.  We had visitors from Spain, France, etc. in our coach.

Our coach ride took more than 2 hours. Beautiful mountain scenery emerged within an hour out of the city of Beijing with back tiers of hills fading into the mist just as seen in Chinese paintings. We arrived at Jinshanling at 11.00 am when Chen bought our entry tickets (65 yuan each) and led us to the cable car (40 yuan each) that would cut down a large part of our climb to the Wall. The cable car took us way up the hill for a 15 minute ride which we would have enjoyed more had it not begun to rain. Fortunately, a lady appeared with ponchos and umbrellas for sale for just 10 yuan each—Llew and I bought one each. It would be the wisest purchase we made on our trip as bad weather dogged us often and made us very grateful for the security of those plastic sheets.

Once up, our climb began. The Great Wall was right in front of us, snaking to the east and west. I have to say that my first view of it was extremely thrilling—like seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time, or the Grand Canyon—both of them had taken my breath away. And I did feel a little bit of that shiver run down my spine when I saw the watch towers of the Great Wall and the curvy lines of it as it marched way into the horizon. It actually has to be seen to be believed. I am finding it hard to describe what it looked like in the misty obscurity of an emerald-green wilderness. When we had taken umpteen pictures to immortalize our presence at this venerable site, we began our hike. And what a hike it turned out to be! Four and a half full hours of climbing uphill through terrain that was constantly uphill over extremely high steps in sections and in air that was thick with humidity. I often had sweat fall from my hair line directly into my eyes. It was one of the toughest physical things I have ever done! But oh so worthwhile! 

Basically, we moved from what is called the East Tower to the West Tower. I repeat: it was really challenging in parts—vertical ladder-like spurts were the worst bits of it as we climbed high sections of stone hewn stairs. In total, it was an uphill climb for over 4 and a 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, as we were huffing and puffing our way from one watch tower to the next, the scenery everywhere was simply brilliant. Rains had left the hills draped in verdant lushness. In Jinshanling, most of the wall has been restored and because it was so far away from Beijing, it was not crowded. Other than our coach load of people and one other, there was really no one there. This oftentimes made me feel like a medieval Mongolian alone in the world.  Luckily, it stopped raining as soon as our hike began. This made us worry about one less thing—staying dry. We kept drinking water as it was horribly hot and very humid. Sweating poured out from every pore.  Fear of dehydration kept us drinking. We were also snacking constantly on Pocky—dark chocolate covered thin pretzel sticks that are a very popular snack in the Far East and to which one of my students had introduced me, many years ago. 

At 1.30, we arrived at the furthest point on the hike of that portion of the Wall that has been restored. The rest was the original, unrestored part of it. It is much harder to scale as the stones that make up the road are very uneven and the ramparts are broken.  This means that you do not have the comfort of the walls on either side to assist in climbing it. The watch towers in this portion of the Wall also had broken crenellations.

Despite all these challenges, it was a superbly exhilarating climb and a wonderful accomplishment. As I said, it was probably one of the most gratifying things I have ever done in my entire life. One does not know what to expect when one undertakes such a feat—indeed pictures cannot do justice to the human accomplishment of building such a structure especially in those days—2700 years ago. Construction began during the Qing dynasty days to keep Mongols and Hans out of China. One cannot ignore the knowledge that most of it was built with slave and prisoner labor.  The restoration of the structure, in modern times, is equally magnificent and visitors must credit China for having undertaken the venture and made a success of it. Indeed it is hard to imagine the size and solidity of this structure—reportedly the only man-made structure on earth that is visible from space. We stopped frequently to take pix. Each vista was different—no two alike. Overall, it was an unimaginable Bucket List item accomplished.

In the bus back at base at 2.30pm, Llew and I shared a cold beer bottle with more Pocky. Then on the bus again, we drove 5 minutes to a neighboring restaurant for lunch. Seated at a round table with 8 other passengers—non-Chinese (Italians, Americans, Australians), we Introduced ourselves and got chatting. It was great to have these companionable breaks with fellow-travelers. It was a lovely crowd of adventurers who have traveled (alone) to many parts of the world. 

Lunch was amazing: we were serve a vast variety of Chinese dishes—at least 12 in number. Chicken, Beef, salads, cooked veg—were all served with rice. There were unlimited quantities and every item was very tasty. No two dishes were alike. There were banana popsicles for dessert—I did not like it and and gave it to Llew.  

Back on the bus at 4.00 pm for our ride back to Beijing, we took very long as the other bus had broken down and we needed to stay slow to help it as Chen switched from one to the other. We finally arrived at Donzimen Subway Station at 7.00 pm way behind schedule.

Our attempt to get to Temple of Heaven Park which contains the Temple of Heaven (not really a temple and not really a park) was a failure. The location was so far south that we had to change two subway lines. We made it there at 7.50 pm but it was already too late. The Temple had closed for the day although the Park was open till 10.00 pm for an entry fee of 15 yuan. But since we could not see the temple even from the outside, we decided not to get into the Park.  the temple is supposed to be an iconic symbol of Beijing but since it was basically a wild goose chase for us we had to content ourselves with a look at pictures of it.

Seeing the 2008 Olympics Stadium and Park:

Next, we decided to take the subway way up north to the Olympics Sports Center to see two iconic buildings that had been built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing—The Bird’s Nest (the main stadium where opening and closing ceremonies were held) and right opposite it, the Water Cube or Ice Cube where the Aquatics events were held. Our friend Ian had emailed us about this building though it was not on the cards for us to see. The place was simply heaving as it turned out to be school summer holidays in China—so families are out with their kids in places like these.  You need a ticket to enter each building and by the time we arrived there, the ticket office was closed. We could only take pictures from the outside but the sound and light show in front of each was lovely as the illuminations are beautifully coordinated. Lots of other buildings were well lit with lights of changing colors. 

And then we had some really crummy luck! We were just leaving the Ice Cube when the heavens opened. We were caught in a really awful heavy shower that simply wouldn’t stop.  We waited under a shelter for about 15 minutes; but the ground beneath us began flooding. Our shoes and socks were soaked to dripping. We decided that since we had ponchos in our bags, we could walk to the subway. But we were well and truly soaked and dripping by the time we reached the station. It was a horrid experience and counts among one of the worst we had in China. To make matters worse, the subway station was packed to capacity. 

We then decided to take the other subway station (Dongze Shitaiao) hoping it would take us faster to our hotel.  No such luck!  Our walk was just as long—about 17 minutes. Tired and dying to get into bed, we went to the Crescent Moon Restaurant again and got take out lamb kebabs and sheesh kebabs for dinner. 

When we returned to our hotel, we met Frank and asked him to help us buy tickets to Pingyao for departure in the morning. We wanted to know the train schedule. Frank checked and told us that just three tickets were left for the train we wanted to catch, the next morning. He advised us to rush by cab to Beijing Railway Station to buy them. It was almost 11.00 pm by then and we were exhausted, Furthermore, it was so hard to get a cab.  Finally one came—it was a sort of Uber for which Frank had pre-paid. Ten minutes later, we were at Beijing Railway Station. To our incredible luck, two tickets were actually left for the 8.10 am train for Pingyao, but they were not together.  No other tickets were available for any other train.  We decided to take them. We then had a really hairy time getting a cab back to our hotel.  Taxi sharks mobbing us asked us for absurd prices. It was very scary indeed as it was close to midnight by then and the streets were emptying fast of all humanity. I found the whole experience quite unnerving. Finally, we found an auto rickshaw who took us back for 30 yuan as opposed to the taxi driver who started out by asking us for 180 yuan.  By then, having paid in cash for four sets of train tickets,  Llew had run out of cash. He had his last 29 yuan left. However, when we gave it to driver, he accepted it with a smile and drove away. 

We then asked Frank if he could change money for us but the poor chap had none. He told us that there were ATM machines at the end of our street open 24 hours. Another trek there followed so that we could change money as we would need cash for the taxi in the morning to take us to Beijing West Train Station for our  train to Pingyao—it would cost us 76 yuan. 

           With all the stress and back and forth and craziness, we eventually got to our rooms at 1.00 am. Then we had showers, ate kebabs for dinner with our morning’s remaining croissant—believe me, it was the strangest meal following a strange day. 

Despite the late hour, we packed our belongings and kept our bags ready for our 5.30 am alarm to leave the Red Capital Hotel at exactly 6.00 am for our taxi pick—Frank had kindly organized our taxi and packed breakfast for us. It was with the utmost relief that we went to bed at 1.30 am. 

It had been an exhausting crazy day but one that offered memories that we would cherish forever.

         Until tomorrow...

Being in Beijing: The Thrills of Tianenman Square and the Forbidden City

Sunday, August 13, 2018

Being in Beijing: The Thrills of Tianenman Square and the Forbidden City

When we awoke at 8.00 am (after setting our phone alarms), we showered and made the discovery that our hotel was set up beautifully in a traditional ‘hutong’—Beijing-style housing built around a common garden-courtyard with rooms on four sides of it. The garden was beautiful and filled with greenery, statuary, fountains, etc. Our room was called The Chairman’s Room and was filled with objects related to the reign and life of Chairman Mao Tse Dong who led the Chinese Revolution and is considered the Father of Modern China. There were books including his famous Red Book which contained the basic tenets of his philosophy derived under inspiration from Lenin and Marx. There were dozens of ceramic figurines that had Maoist connections as well as mugs, plates, etc. that bore his image. A superb-strange place overall and filled with clutter.  In fact, there was barely room for us to lay down our things.  The entire collection had been amassed by a retired American diplomat named Laurence Brahm who made it his life’s work to collect items associated with the Cultural Revolution. The Red Capital Residence Hotel belongs to him—and he has found the perfect space in which to exhibit all his wares. In the Reception area, there are sofas and chairs that were once used during important business meetings and discussions in the bygone 1960s’ era. The bathroom was equally bizarre with the craziest decor—again Maoist elements mixed with Victorian decorative panels and stained glass. There was a stone floor for showering with rubber bathroom slippers adding a traditional Chinese touch. I had found this place through Lonely Planet and it turned out to be one of the quirkiest places in which I have ever lived, 

Breakfast that followed soon was grand. There was yoghurt, fruit, hard boiled eggs (eggs in every form are a Chinese fixture for breakfast, as I discovered very quickly), toast, etc. Frank Wang looked after us so well. After eating our fill, we got directions from him on how to get to the subway station—which was at least 20 minutes away (very inconvenient). However, once we got there, we figured out the system really quickly since the stations were also marked in English. Everything is mechanized and we soon discovered that China spent 4 trillion dollars on infrastructure during the Beijing Olympics of 2008 in order to attract foreign investment.  It seems to be a move that has paid off handsomely. They are vast, spotlessly clean, clearly marked and very inexpensive—certainly better than anything we can find in New York. On our way to the subway station, we also discovered that the entire street was taken over by hutongs—a whole long row of them—in which local Beijing natives still live. The main road was rather busy and filled with shops but all signage is only in Chinese.   

First things first: there are two main things to be seen while in Beijing—the famous Forbidden City and the Park of the Heavenly Temple which contains the Temple itself that has become iconic. There is also the Great Wall of China which lies outside the city limits. We devoted today to the former, the Imperial City or the Forbidden City—so-called because until the Revolution, when China was still ruled by a monarchy, only members of the royal family could enter the gates. Everyone else could be executed for venturing into this territory. 

We had tried to sign up for a conducted tour to the Great Wall en route to the subway station—but we had drawn a blank. We decided instead to try to get there on our own using public transport. By the time we entered the subway train, we discovered that all of China was on the move. We had arrived in the country at the very time when the schools are closed (July and August) and Chinese families value their family time enormously. They spend all their free time with their kids and loyally patronize all the local places of interest. Thus, while in most other countries, local people rarely venture into their tourist sites, in China, the bulk of the crowd is local. We also made the discovery that July and August are two of the hottest, most humid, months in China. Everywhere we went, we were subjected to merciless, unmitigated heat which, combined with the humidity, made for thousands of hot, moist bodies! Not a very appealing image, to be sure.

In the notorious Tiananmen Square:

By the time we spilled out of the (thankfully air-conditioned) subway car and joined thousands of Chinese as they moved en masse towards the Forbidden City, we knew to simply go with the flow. All roads seems to lead to the huge empty space in front of the main entrance of the Forbidden City—the infamous Tiananmen Square. Thousands of people were already there when we arrived. It was fun to actually find ourselves in the space we had seen for years on TV. It is one of the largest squares I have seen and surrounded on three sides by official buildings including the National Museum of China, Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum, a flag pole and platform on which official flag-hoisting occurs, and a couple of propagandist sculptural works that marked the People’ Revolution. We did not have the time to enter the interior of each of these buildings as we wanted to spend more time in the Forbidden City. But we did roam at will around it, stopped frequently to take pictures and then resting to simply people-watch. The heat made us feel very enervated and we tended to flop down whenever we found a shady place to sit.

Next stop was the Forbidden City. To cross the huge and busy road that separates Tiananmen Square from the Forbidden City, you need to use the underground passageway. We simply followed the crowd and found ourselves on the other side where we were promptly stopped by a tour tout pushing the sale of a conducted tour to the Great Wall. I seized upon the opportunity to see what she could offer as preliminary inquiries online at our hotel, made by Frank, had indicated that the Wall at two popular locations (Badaling and Muthialyu which were closest to Beijing) were both closed and would remain closed tomorrow. When the tout called Linda offered us a coach tour to Jinshanling, we grabbed the opportunity although it was more than two hours away and involved the most challenging climb up the Great Wall.  The tour cost us about 400 yuan each and would provide transport to and from the location with pick up from our hotel, entry fees to the Wall a luncheon and the services of an English speaking guide. We thought it was a steal. It would have been a shame to have come so close to the Wall and not had an occasion to both see and climb it. We paid her an advance of 100 yuan and were told that by 10.00 pm, someone would call our hotel to give us pick up information. We left feeling very pleased with ourselves for having found someone who could offer us a tour to the Great Wall—which, we realized later, was really far away from Beijing and not an easy item to plan and execute on our own.

Inside the Forbidden City:

We also realized that tickets to enter the various ‘Halls’ that comprise the Forbidden City are available online in advance. They do go quickly—which makes them highly coveted. But for those who have not obtained tickets online, you can strand in a line at 8.15 am each day to be given tickets for entry that same day. As we were going to the Great Wall the next day and had only that one day to cover Beijing, we did not have the luxury of obtaining tickets to enter each Hall and view the interiors. 

However, we followed the crowds as they poured into the Main Gates of the vast complex which is almost like a miniature city in itself. The huge portrait of Chairman Mao that we see in all TV coverage of Chinese politics was clearly visible as we entered while crossing a humpback bridge over a dry moat that would, once upon a time, have been filled with water.  Gigantic marble lions—one male, one female (in keeping with the principles of Ying and Yang) flanked the entrance. Once past the Main Door, we found ourselves in a massive courtyard with the grand four-storey Main building behind us and small rooms on each side of the wings that once housed the royal courtesans. We stopped in a souvenir shop that stood besides the post office to get a magnet and a post card and then we followed the crowds again to the next courtyard where we received a very good idea of the architectural principle on which the complex is based—we saw the same pattern in the temples we visited later on the trip. Each Hall is named  after one of the elements of Buddhism—a religion that China rejected after the Cultural Revolution of the early 1960s. 

Following the crowd again, we arrived at the Temple complex—it is evident that in contemporary times, many Chinese have resumed their belief in Buddhism as well as its practice. We saw hundreds of devotees in the various Buddhist temple complexes we visited during our travels.

Our exit from the Forbidden City was via the vast lake-like moat, where we bought ice-cream (mochi) on a stick—that is flanked on both sides by picturesque weeping willow trees. It made for a much longer walk back to the subway station but, in the process, we passed through a series of hutongs that continue to fascinate visitors. Dating from the 1600s, these structures have been converted into hotels (as was ours) but many continue to service the habitation needs of modern-day Beijingers. We made a swift detour inside one of them—the ones closest to the Forbidden City were once used exclusively by the ministers who governed the royal courts. 

By this time, the heat, the crowds and our lack of sleep had begun to take their toll on us. It did not take either of us much persuasion to return to the hotel where we hoped to get a bit more shut-eye as we felt severely sleep-deprived. Besides, the walk to and from our hotel to the subway station was really long. 

Back in our hotel, we took a nap and our showers and about 7.00 pm, on a recommendation from our receptionist Frank, we set out in search of dinner. He recommended a restaurant just 3 minutes from our hotel. It was called the Crescent Moon Restaurant and it had been listed in Lonely Planet as one of Beijing’s best restaurants. It turned out to be a Chinese Muslim restaurant—a rather rare find. Very young waitresses were dressed in pretty green shalwar khameez outfits and even though none of us had the language skills, we made ourselves understood. We started off with a huge family-size bowl of hot and sour soup that was very good indeed and went on to have a huge platter of shrimp-filled noodles.  The food was great. When we learned, the next day, that the place was famed for its lamb kebabs, we would go there again. 

It was only a two minute walk back to our hotel which was a great relief. We did not spend too much time awake because both of us were more than ready to tumble into bed at the end of a very fulfilling first day in China. We felt very proud of ourselves that we had navigated the subway system and had mixed fully with the local Chinese folk as we joined them in taking in their most significant historical treasures. 

Until tomorrow...

Horrendous Travel Misadventures on Entry into China

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Bombay-Hong Kong-Beijing

Upon arrival at Hong Kong airport, my watch was set to Bombay local time. I knew I had a bit of a long layover in Hong Kong and I did not catch the local time when it was announced on the PA system in the aircraft. I had every intention of adjusting my watch to the local time but I clean forgot. When I looked at the Departure Board to find out my departing gate, I saw that it was much too early and had not been announced at the time. Deciding to spend time amidst the enticing duty free shops of the airport, I completely lost track of time. In fact, I even wondered if I should have a bite as I surveyed the offerings in the Food Court. Time flew and I was oblivious to it. When I looked at my watch next, I still had loads of time left before boarding.

So you can imagine my shock when I looked at the Departure Board next and discovered that they were announcing ‘Final Call’ for my flight! How was that even possible, I wondered. There was still two hours before my flight took off. And that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks. Hong Kong was two hours ahead of Bombay time and I had not adjusted my watch. I was bound to miss my flight and the possibility did not bear thinking. In absolute panic, I asked where the gate was and discovered that it was miles away! I was in a blind panic. Tearing across the airport and taking an escalator down, I found my gate and discovered that several announcements had been made calling my name—none of which I could hear as I was miles away in another part of the airport! As it turned out, I had to take a shuttle bus to my aircraft which was parked at a distant bay some miles out at the airport. Luckily, they had not yet shut the doors nor had they removed the ladder leading from the runway to the aircraft door. So, after the traffic assistant at the airport made a call, they were able to take me alone in a shuttle bus from the boarding gate to the airport to board my flight—which, as it turns out, to my great good fortune, was an hour delayed!

Seated at a window, I tried to calm my wildly beating heart. But that was only the dramatic beginning of what became a seemingly endless saga of attempting to reach Beijing. It was about 1.30 pm local time when we left Hong Kong. The flight was about 4 hours long but just an hour before landing, they made an announcement on my China Eastern Airlines flight in Chinese. They also translated it into English but the PA system was poor and the accent was so strong that I did not understand much. 

We landed at what seemed like scheduled time to me and then I kept wondering why we were not disembarking. After waiting for more than half an hour,I asked the girl next to me if she spoke English and when she said she spoke a little, I asked why we were not deplaning. That’s when she gave me a huge shock! It turns out we were not in Beijing at all! Apparently bad weather in Beijing had caused our plane to land two hours away at an airport in a city called ZhengZhou which was a 2 hour flight from Beijing! 

It was about 6.00 pm Chinese local time and there was still bright sunshine outside. But for what seemed like forever, nothing happened. Next thing I saw, they were unloading our plane of passenger baggage! I asked my fellow-passenger what was going on and she told me that to save time, they had decided to get us to disembark and since we had arrived from Hong Kong, they were going to have us go through Chinese immigration in ZhengZhou to save time once we arrived eventually in Beijing.

By then it was 8.00 pm and darkness had fallen over China. I was in despair as Llew was flying into Beijing from New York and was supposed to be connecting with me at Beijing airport. I had no idea if his flight had been diverted too. If so, he could be anywhere in China! If not, he could be waiting for me in Beijing in despair.  I had no internet—so no way of reaching him to tell him where I was. At 9.00 pm, we disembarked and went through Chinese Immigration and Customs—the whole nine yards—finger printing, pupil identification, etc. My Chinese visa was checked. I was allowed out and told to pick up my case and proceed to another gate. We would be taking a domestic flight to Beijing.

When I found the gate, I got a new boarding pass and decided not to check in my small bag. I did not want to waste any more time retrieving it when we reached Beijing. By this time, Llew would have landed in Beijing and probably had WiFi there. I asked Stephanie, my fellow traveler, if I could use her email to reach Llew as there is no gmail in China! Long story short, I did make contact with Llew with whom I then kept in touch until we took off more than 3 hours later at well past midnight. The airline arranged for us to get packed dinners and bottles of water and whole families sat in a packed waiting room for take off. We were fed up, tired and anxious to get on. I had been traveling for more than 24 hours and I was exhausted. 

It was only when Chinese passengers started shouting and making a scene that the China Eastern Airlines ground staff asked us to reboard the flight. Barely anyone could speak English and I faced the beginning of the endless linguistic problems that would dog us throughout our travels in China. It turned out to be the same aircraft in which we had landed at Zhengzhou—so we were not waiting for a replacement aircraft. Why had we been kept waiting for almost 5 hours? 

Anyway, eventually we did take off and arrived in Beijing at 2.00 am! Llew was at the Arrivals Lounge waiting for me after what had been over a 24 hour flying journey for him from New York. At 3.00 am, it was so hard to get a cab to our hotel and when a ‘taxi shark’ who called himself an Official Taxi man, led us down a dark and remote alleyway to presumably find a cab for us, we followed him—until I began to smell a rat! Why were we not in the regular Taxi Queue? Next thing we knew, the Shark was asking us for 500 yuan (about $80) to take us downtown to our hotel! We were in shock until I smelled a rat and told him to take us to the regular taxi queue right around the main door of the airport. He began shouting at me but piped down when I shouted right back at him! This was our first experience on arrival in China and, believe me, from that moment on, it just did not stop. Every single step was a challenge. When we did retrace our steps and get to the official taxi line, we had to wait for an hour before we were actually seated in a cab and then the driver did not know where our hotel was! A full 15 minute discussion with a bunch of taxi dispatchers finally saw us leave into the darkened streets of Beijing at 4.00 am. What a horrible way to arrive in China from halfway around the world!

Once we got off the cab, we had a hard time trying to find our hotel. It turned out to be a hutong—a traditional Beijing habitation that involves a one-storied structure based around an open courtyard. It was called the Red Capital Residence Hotel and I had found it through Lonely Planet which is my Travel Bible. With difficulty, we actually found it and with relief, we rang the bell and were welcomed by the receptionist called Frank Wang who checked us in and gave us the key to our room. We basically just threw off our shoes and threw ourselves on the bed and simply passed out. It was almost 5.00 am and we slept till 8.00 am.

It had been a crazy entry into China...and the craziness would continue with little relief.

         Until tomorrow...