Some adventures involve heroism. Some adventures involve feats of strength. All adventures involve fear. For me, our trip to the Great Wall definitely involved fear.
I still remember (as I recalled for the LAC bros) my unforgettable first experience with the wall 16 years ago. A strange mix of fear and beauty and awe and tension characterize those memories, and my return delivered the same. The LAC bros visited a less-maintained portion of the Wall to avoid the crowds, but that also meant a lot more un-railed staircases and crumbling wall sections. As an acrophobe, I was anxious about our plans, but I figured I would suck it up and go with the plan. I am very glad I did, as the wall was positively breathtaking. Our section was about three hours outside the city, but the views were well worth the drive. Mountains and trees could be seen for miles, and visions of ancient infantry traversing the walls danced through my head.
Fear was a bit less immediate than beauty. The initial part of our trip was still on a well-maintained wall section, and I was very comfortable (and somewhat tired) there. At one point, however, the stairs started to become rubble at points, and the sides of the wall started to come apart as well. That was when my heart started to race a bit from something other than exercise. I started to whine for the rest and complain about the stairs, but I’m happy to say that everyone else seemed quite unfazed by my remarks. As the wall became more crumbled and steeper, my heart raced progressively more, and I started moving way ahead of everyone else to compensate for my desire to “go somewhere safe.” When I reached the highest guard tower, though, I got a chance to look out again and capture the truly epic beauty of the landscape once again. The fear didn’t evaporate until we were getting off the wall, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss its beauty. I hope I didn’t force anyone else to miss it.
Afterwards, we returned to the hostel for fresh clothes and showers. Everyone else got quite dressed up; it was pretty snazzy. We went to a truly fabulous restaurant for dinner to have Peking duck, and I think everyone enjoyed it. We also got to watch the chef prepare the meat, which was new for me too. Normally, I have the duck with scallions, but this chef gave us pineapples, lettuce, cucumbers, radish, pickled vegetables, and cantaloupe. All were brilliant pairings with the tender and succulent duck meat wrapped in thin rice wrappings. It was also Gina’s birthday, so we celebrated her birthday (and Jenette’s, which was two days prior) with a cake.
After dinner, the night was yet young, and we wandered the streets in search of a night market. We crossed many interesting sites and sights like local stores and foreigner bars. The vibrancy of the city is completely different at night from during the day. Eventually, we stumbled upon a night market to get some rudimentary shopping done.
The night market was a great illustration of the difference between Beijing and the rest of the country. As a frequent tourist destination for internationals, Beijing shopkeepers don’t just rely on Chinese and gesturing – they aggressively hound you in English. I got away mostly unscathed, but Nikki got harassed until she left one particular shop. The negotiations for price also show just how inflated prices can be for some products. I think everyone who bought something got at least some discount, with a few getting offers for 50, 60, 70% off. I bought some NBA playing cards that I was very pleased with, but my hunt for the ultimate t-shirt yet lives.
With the end of our trip rapidly approaching, I feel like we’ve all learned a lot about China, each other, and ourselves. OK, that was too cliché, but this trip has been outstanding, and I look forward to one final hurrah tomorrow.
-Jesse
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