The Great Wall

Sorry to all the lovely people who have been worried about us going AWOL. Internet here in Singapore (McDonalds provides free wifi internet access) is terribly slow (lots of students downloading homework no doubt.. And did you hear about the poor S'porean arrested for stealing someone's internet connection - this news has actually made it to slashdot btw - sad bastards, poor guy..).

Day 18 - We wake at the crack of dawn to pack our rucksacks and get ready for our trip to the Great Wall. We had booked our ride to Simatai from our hostel (very good value btw) and Bobby the manager had very kindly arranged for our driver to drop us off at Beijing West station on our way back in order for us to catch our overnight train to Xian.

So at 6.30am sharp, we set off in a car along with 2 aussie guys (also from our hostel) and head about 375km out of Beijing. We pass several towns, Miyun being the largest. The roads are smooth and although traffic is busy, there are no traffic jams. The driver is reassuringly careful and beeps the horn every time we are about to pass a cyclist or cart (this seems to be the norm around here). We stop halfway at Miyun to stock up on food and water for our walk.JD and I use the toilets at the supermarket. I'm glad I can still recognise the words for 'woman' and 'man' and so tell JD which toilet to go for. Each toilet is a long tiled room with a row of squat toilets and no cubicles. I think I'm getting used to this now (having used quite a few) and fortunately for me there's no one else in the room. JD was not so lucky - his had a guy who was right in the middle, doing a number one and spitting at the same time ..ugggh.

After about 4 hours' drive, we reach Jinshanling where the guys begin their 12km trek on the Wall towards Simatai. The driver indicates that we are entering the Jinshanling entrance, however the road to the actual entrance itself is a long one (took about 15 minutes). The scenery is beautiful though as the road winds around the hills and every now and again you can see the Wall and its watch towers outlining the hilltops like an elongated cocks' comb. We also pass some streams along the way and the roadside greenery is interspersed with bright crimson shots of autumn shrubbery. Finally we reach the entrance. The tourist car park at Jinshanling is virtually empty as not many people come this far and not many attempt this particular stretch of the Wall (apparently this section is longer but not as undulating as Simatai). I remind the guys to make it to Simatai by 4pm (or we'll miss our train) and to make sure they're walking in the right direction (it's 12km to Simatai and about a few thousand km the opposite way...). Our driver then tells them to be at the Simatai carpark by 3pm ...ooopps :P
Jinshanling entrance
Close up of signboard on left of above pic

After seeing them to the entrance, our driver then drives us to the Simatai entrance located about half an hour's drive away. There are a few more tourist buses here but nowhere as busy or as commercialised as Badaling or the other entrances near Beijing. The driver tells us he will be waiting for us here at 3pm. We have 4 hours.

After buying our entrance tickets (40 yuan pp), we walk through the compound of the entrance building, along a curved paved road, past some restaurants, a small man made lake and finally along a cobbled road which merges with that of the Wall's (i think i have a pic of this). Ahead of us is what I can only describe as a sheer wall of mountain towering in front of us with our path, the Wall leading up and up along its ridges its curves like upturned 'U's in a comic drawing. JD points to a tower about a good 5 storeys higher ahead of us and we give ourselves an hour to reach that point (we reached it in 10 mins, the winding terrain just made it look far).
Simatai entrance
Leading to the Wall..

The Wall is as the aussies put it, AWESOME. There are 2 routes - one which includes a rope bridge spanning a gorge which leads to Jinshanling ( we only found that out when we asked a tourist... er was it me that mentioned walking the right direction earlier? ... oo er!) and the other which leads all the way to the 12th tower and the most amazing sights you'll ever see.
Halfway there...



There is no notion of health and safety here (no one ever succeeds suing the Chinese government anyway) so some walking paths are all completely without barriers, some with a sheer drop down the cliff. The steps range from small shallow ones to steps as high as knee level (I practically crawled my way through these) and come in all widths, some wide and some so narrow you have to walk sideways.
Pant!!



That's ~10 kilos in that bag

Amazingly there are quite a few old people walking here as well with walking sticks. You must have good knees to do the Wall and stamina. JD deserves special mention here as he hiked all the way with at least 10 kilos of supplies and our jackets on his back (I bought way too much food along - water, oranges, bananas, bread, chocolates ... you get the idea..). Anyway, moving on (swiftly), some sections of the Wall have no steps but are inclined nearly 45 degrees, which makes walking difficult especially when the wind buffets you around (the wall here has no barriers so if you get blown off it's all the way down a few hundred km). The most beautiful part is towards the 12th tower (we only made it to the 10th I think) where you can look down on the other parts of the wall below you and in the distance. I can't wait to upload the pictures so you can see it too.




The rope bridge route is not recommended if you suffer from vertigo (not a joke). I practically hyperventilate all the way across the bridge, not least when we spot another sign, having walked halfway, informing us that a 5 yuan fee is required to use the bridge and JD wasn't sure we had the cash at hand. A man is indeed posted at the other end of the bridge and walks along it to collect his toll fee. There are quite a few people patrolling the Wall, some guides (a few employed by the Wall authorities, others private guides) and some locals who live near the Wall. They communicate with one another by shouting to one another across the distance (you also get some chinese tourists doing the same as well just to hear the echoes). The locals living here are quite helpful as well - we see them tell tourists when they've mistakenly walked away from the trail (there are some sections of the Wall where the tower is blocked and you have to walk around it via a trail. However there is a particular section which looks like one of these trails but actually leads further afield to the hillsides around the Wall. The locals helpfully gesture wayward tourists to go back).


Rope bridge
For arrows..
Inside a tower


I definitely recommend taking the extra effort to come to Simatai. If you have the time and are fit, do the Jinshanling and go all the way to Simatai like the guys did. The Jinshanling walk is less steep (we were told) but gruelling as it's far. The guys reached Simatai but didn't have enough time to do much of Simatai. They did however zipline across the gorge - very cool. We are so coming back to walk other parts of the Wall.