Great Wall
Ask anyone the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of China, and you will likely here: The Great Wall. We went on the third day of our trip. I'll give you a little bit of narrative and some history up front, but the pictures and videos do a better job of telling the story than I could. We decided to visit the Mutianyu section, which is a little bit out of the way, but much less crowded than the Badaling section. This section winds its ways through the mountains, providing some breathtaking views. The Wall is literally built along the crest of mountains, and you have to either climb the mountain or take a cable car to get there. We decided to take a cable car to the top to save our energy for walking along the Wall. The Great Wall may be the most impressive thing I have ever seen, but it takes some time spent hiking it to fully appreciate it. It doesn't immediately take your breath away the way some other historical monuments do. The wall itself is only about 20-25 feet tall and 15 feet wide. You need to get to a good vantage point, with the wall extending farther than the eye can see in either direction, before you realize just how majestic it really is.
The Mutianyu section of the Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty in the 14th Century in order to keep out the Mongols (it has since been restored). The Mongols were a nomadic people that relied on cavalry to overrun their opponents, so the Wall was especially helpful in keeping the horses out. It curves and winds in many "U" shapes to allow archers to surround the attacking enemy and rain arrows down on them. The bricks are held together with a mashed-up rice paste. This paste that was originally used actually is more intact than the concrete that was used to renovate the Wall hundreds of years later. At the time of the Ming Dynasty all men owed 1 month of labor each year to the government, unless they were able to buy their way out. It was the labor of these men (which according to our guide was not slave labor) that built the Great Wall.
Now for some pictures:
The Mutianyu section of the Wall was built by the Ming Dynasty in the 14th Century in order to keep out the Mongols (it has since been restored). The Mongols were a nomadic people that relied on cavalry to overrun their opponents, so the Wall was especially helpful in keeping the horses out. It curves and winds in many "U" shapes to allow archers to surround the attacking enemy and rain arrows down on them. The bricks are held together with a mashed-up rice paste. This paste that was originally used actually is more intact than the concrete that was used to renovate the Wall hundreds of years later. At the time of the Ming Dynasty all men owed 1 month of labor each year to the government, unless they were able to buy their way out. It was the labor of these men (which according to our guide was not slave labor) that built the Great Wall.
Now for some pictures:
This is how Alexa and I made our way along the Great Wall:
More Pictures
We couldn't have asked for a better day to visit, other than the fact that it rained for about 15 minutes. The clouds and fog rolling over the Wall gave it a mystic quality.
There came a point where we had to hike some stairs as the Wall literally went up a mountain's peak.
The view at the top was the best.
Ming Tombs
After visiting the Wall we headed to the Ming Tombs, the burial place of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty. When planning our trip our guide warned us that they were a bit underwhelming, and were only included on most itineraries because they were close to the Badaling Section of the Wall. Given that we had six days in Beijing, we decided to include them. The best part of the Ming Tombs by far is the Spirit Way (below right), a long cobblestone pathway flanked by willow trees and statues of Chinese animals, both real and mythical. A soul tower (left) marks the tomb of each individual emperor. The actual tomb we visited, called Dingling, is almost entirely empty, and the interior is reminiscent of an unfinished basement. Some of the treasures that have been excavated are on display in a museum outside the tomb, but there are no English explanations, and there is a lot of overlap between what was there and what we had seen at the Forbidden City. All of us agreed that we would have used the half day spent traveling to and visiting the tombs differently knowing what we know now.
One of the statues along the Spirit Way
Temple of Heaven
When Alvin (our tour guide) dropped us off at our hostel, we bid him farewell (we only used a guide for the first three days of the trip). The next day, after returning to Tiananmen to see the square from above and Chairman Mao (see previous post), we headed to the Temple of Heaven. Like so many of Beijing's historic monuments, it too was built by the Ming Dynasty. The main building of the complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (below), but the Temple grounds are more like a park, and are larger than the Forbidden City. The emperors prayed once a year at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests for, well, good harvests. For Kirk, Karl, and other former (or current) Age of Empires II players, the hall is the wonder for the Chinese civilization.
To give you some perspective, the black figure standing next to the hall is Alexa.
Below is the Imperial Vault of Heaven used to store the Emperor's tablets that were used once a year to pray for good weather.
Shopping
After visiting the temple we headed to a market, which was essentially a 5 story building with sellers of clothes, appliances, trinkets, and just about anything else you can think of. I wanted to buy some souvenirs, and a former teacher at our school had recommended this market to me. Those that know me are aware that I am a hunter type of shopper, as opposed to a gatherer. I go in, buy what I need, and come out. The shopping experience in the US (outside of books) is not something I really enjoy. Shopping at this market, however, was the most fun I have ever had at a store. These markets are known for their negotiable prices, and haggling is a must. By the end of the day I had it down to a routine:
I would walk up to a vendor, who immediately perked up when she realized I was interested. In broken English she would tell me how good the prices are, or how fine the quality is, even if she is only selling T-shirts. I would ask "How much?" and she would give me an exorbitantly high price that is more than the product would cost in the United States. For some T-shirts we bought the first price was about $20 and for a pair of shoes I bought the starting price was about $200. I would immediately put the product down and say, "No, too much," and pretend to lose interest. She would pull me back and beg me not to leave, then gesture for me to name my price. I would name something absurdly low to start as my anchor, $1 for a T-shirt or $5 for a pair of shoes. The vendor would say, "You joking," reiterate how fine the product is ("this shirt 100% cotton"), then say, "No joking price, serious price." The more stubborn you are in terms of sticking to your anchor, the lower the final price. I get the sense that they make money at just about any price, but they want as much profit as possible, which is why their anchor starts 10-20 times higher than the price you will get the item for. I would try to get them to lower their price a few times before I upped mine, so they could see I meant business.
There would always come a point where they refused to lower their price anymore, and I would respond by walking away. Again, they pulled me back and lowered the price even more. By the end of our trip, Antonio had perfected the role of shopping wingman. Just when it appeared I was about to settle on the price the vendor was offering, he would swoop in and ask what the price I was getting was. Then, he would shake his head and say too much, forcing the vendor to further lower the price. The whole experience was like a competition, a battle of wills. I felt that I won most of those battles (T-shirts for $2, shoes for $20, an 8 gig memory card for my camera for $10, an authentic Steve Yzerman Jersey for $35), but maybe they were laughing at me for the price I finally settled on.
I would walk up to a vendor, who immediately perked up when she realized I was interested. In broken English she would tell me how good the prices are, or how fine the quality is, even if she is only selling T-shirts. I would ask "How much?" and she would give me an exorbitantly high price that is more than the product would cost in the United States. For some T-shirts we bought the first price was about $20 and for a pair of shoes I bought the starting price was about $200. I would immediately put the product down and say, "No, too much," and pretend to lose interest. She would pull me back and beg me not to leave, then gesture for me to name my price. I would name something absurdly low to start as my anchor, $1 for a T-shirt or $5 for a pair of shoes. The vendor would say, "You joking," reiterate how fine the product is ("this shirt 100% cotton"), then say, "No joking price, serious price." The more stubborn you are in terms of sticking to your anchor, the lower the final price. I get the sense that they make money at just about any price, but they want as much profit as possible, which is why their anchor starts 10-20 times higher than the price you will get the item for. I would try to get them to lower their price a few times before I upped mine, so they could see I meant business.
There would always come a point where they refused to lower their price anymore, and I would respond by walking away. Again, they pulled me back and lowered the price even more. By the end of our trip, Antonio had perfected the role of shopping wingman. Just when it appeared I was about to settle on the price the vendor was offering, he would swoop in and ask what the price I was getting was. Then, he would shake his head and say too much, forcing the vendor to further lower the price. The whole experience was like a competition, a battle of wills. I felt that I won most of those battles (T-shirts for $2, shoes for $20, an 8 gig memory card for my camera for $10, an authentic Steve Yzerman Jersey for $35), but maybe they were laughing at me for the price I finally settled on.
These were some interesting shirts:
I'm not sure if the ObaMao T-shirt is intended for Tea Partiers, or hipsters ironically making fun of them, but either way it was funny. Mao must be rolling over in his grave due to the types of products his face was used to sell in capitalist markets everywhere. It's as if he is the face of a communist-on-the-outside, capitalist-on-the-inside new economy, wrought with all kinds of contradictions. The above shirt with the Nike slogan and Mao's face was the most ironic of the bunch.
Streets
The streets in Asia are bad everywhere. Drivers are aggressive and prone to using their horns. In China this was even worse than Korea. Crosswalk signs changed with minimal warning, and pedestrians often got stuck in the middle like these poor people:
I had to turn back once when I was 1/3 of the way across the street (normally in that situation I'd just finish walking across) because the drivers were so aggressive. Also, just because you have the green light to walk across the street does not mean that drivers turning right will stop or even slow down for you.
We did find some nice pedestrian shopping streets like the one below, but even those had occasional cars and trucks driving on them.
Drivers also make very risky, poor decisions. One night, Alexa, Antonio, and I were trying to catch up with Ian and Kristy, who were already at a bar outside Olympic Park. We wanted desperately to find a taxi, but only certain taxi are legit, and many of them won't stop for foreigners at night because they aren't heading to the traditional tourist stops. We found a group of taxi drivers waiting outside their taxis, so that they could negotiate a flat rate to rip people off. Just like when we were shopping, we had to barter. The driver was stubborn though, so we ended up settling on the exorbitant flat rate of 100 RMB (which was still only about $5 a person for us, but in China that's a ton of money for a cab ride). Once the ride started though, he was the most friendly cab driver in the world (most likely because he was pocketing all the extra cash). He told us he loved "America people" and loved "America people music". He then popped in a CD and started blaring Backstreet Boys and Lady Gaga. He laughed loudly and was generally a lot of fun. I took a lot of videos of this cab ride. After a while though, he started swerving in an out of lanes, as if he was dancing to the music. It got scary. I happened to be taking a video as this happened.
Water Cube and Bird's Nest
One of the few disappointments of the trip was that when we got to the lounge overlooking the Water Cube and Bird's Nest from the 2008 Olympics, the stadiums were not lit up with the colorful lights. I did get a drive by shot of the bird's nest the first day of the trip when it was still light.
Okay, that's all for now. Still one more to come.
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