wonderment of the wall

First things first: the internet connection here is incredibly slow (maybe all the filtering?), so although I will continue to try, I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to post pics.

So i lost the bet – I’ve had a head cold since we landed and am therefore officially the first person to get sick. IT is not at all eased by the massive quatities of dust infiltrating my respiratory system. Also not helping: the fluffy clouds of pollen which make walking around not dissimilar from floating through the aftermath of a gigantic pillow fight. And unfortunately the random stray puff which makes its way into my nostril, does nothing to clear out the grime already in there. Not to mention tHe fact that I managed to quit smoking 10 months ago turns out to be of little benefit in a country where breathing and smoking are nearly one and the same anyway. My poor lungs.

We journeyed to the Great wall yesterday – a three hour bus trip from beijing, which lends proof to the theory that it’s not the quality of the roads that matters, so much as the quality of the suspension system. The journey was only made longer by the fact that in spite of the jet lag, i could not nap in either direction. To explain: I am not a very high maintenance girl – I can deal with the pit toilets, and the indiscriminate evacuating of mucus everywhere… however the *only* thing which really grosses me out is grubby headrest covers. so my phobia about stranger’s hair prevented me from catching a few winks.

We elected to climb the section of the great wall which stretches from jinshanling to simatai – a rigourous 3 hour trek. Jinshanling is the less touristed and unrestored section of the wall. And by unrestored i mean allowed to quietly crumble into disrepair for the last 600 years. the wall is immense and vast and on a scale completely inconceivable even to today’s engineers. it is high and deep and passes through some of the most inhospitable land to be found. something so huge and untouched presents a formidable challenge even to a relatively fit hiker – and woe betide you if you are even moderately out of shape. “Hiking” is somewhat misleading terminology – in fact much of the passage involves nimble (or in my case, not-so-nimble) scrmabling of unending piles of loose rock and decayed stonework, surmounting incredibly long and steep stretches of perilously narrow stair, and navigating several areas where one is in distinct danger of tumbling *off the wall* with even the slightest misstep, landing bonebreakingly far below. Being a bit of a natural klutz, I admit to being quite scared at several points, and consider it nothing short of a miracle that i did not fall once.

So we huffed and puffed and clambered and climbed and sweated for three hours to arrive at simatai, an area under heavy restoration by the government. And by restoration I mean completely redoing. At the great wall, the forbidden city, in fact, all over beijing (presumbly in time for the olympics) there is lots of “restoration” taking place. Unfortunately, “authenticity” has precious little to do with the notion of “restoration” in china. things are not lovingly restored to their former antiqued glory, but rather rebuilt, as if they had been just finished yesterday. (in fact, today at the summer palace, i audibly gasped to see workmen scrambling around on qing era rooftops, haphazardly putting new tiles on.) so if we had started at simatai, i would have had to admit to being gravely disappointed. “Hey! Look at the concrete they poured last week! Just like the original great wall!” It’s not really conducive to communing with the spirit of ghengis khan, now, is it?

overall, however, i feel truly grateful to have seen the wall in its original state, and to have had the chance to get a real feel for the amazing feats of architectural brilliance and sheer manpower required to construct a structure of such imposing magnatude that it’s still being marvelled at 600 years later.

My thigh muscles, on the other hand, are still screaming at me.

next: we’re heading to datong and wutai shan, on of the sacred buddhist mountain ranges. will try to check in there.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 April, 2006 at 9:35 am and is filed under china. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.