the wall ... and the wailing
so july 3 is is "The Day" ... we're going to badaling about 2 hours north of beijing to climb the wall. this is what we've all been waiting for ... it's the reason we decided to extend our trip. since our original tour was only scheduled to cover the southern china region, and since the wall is only located on the northern border, we had a whole country to cross to get here. would it be worth it?
to start with it's another scorching day ... temps in the triple figures and humidity not far behind. this section of the wall, as with most sections, were built high atop the mountains that separate china from mongolia. as we're approaching, my eyes are glued on the lush green mountains looking for any sign of concrete. i see some straight ahead and can't contain my excitement. 'is that the wall?!?!? is that the wall?!?! our tour guide doesn't share my enthusiasm and utters the chinese equivalent of 'like, doi' while the rest of the gang plays it cool .... but i know they're all excited too.
we pay our entrance fee and take a bazillion photos before we even start to climb. it's so hot outside (by now it's about noon) we all stock up on water and i buy a nifty green pearly parasol to help keep the sun off me. there's no shade on the wall.
the walls looks like it goes straight up the mountain and for the first time i realize it's all steps. i thought you climbed a staircase or a ramp to get up to the wall, then you just walked along the wall ... nope. you climb stairs AND a ramp to get to the wall and then the whole damn route is steps. big steps. imagine what the stairmaster in hell looks like and that's how big the steps are.
this is going to be a doozy. there's about 5 stations you can see as the wall heads up the mountain and i wonder how far i'll make it. you can see others climbing, and most only make it to the first station before turning around and coming back. i wonder if it will satisfy me enough to just be *on* the wall ... or if i really needed to do all that climbing. peer pressure got the best of me and after stalling about 15 minutes checking out the souvenier stand .... drinking water .... fixing my umbrella .... tying and retying my shoes ... only poom is left so we decide to head up together.
the steps are even steeper and higher than they look.... and they're worn down in the middle from years of wear making them grossly uneven. this is fertile ground for sprained ankles. i am winded by the time we climb the stairs and the ramp to just get to the wall itself. but there's old ladies ahead of me and if they can do it ....
i keep climbing and can't help but wonder how i can do 40 minutes on the stairmaster at the gym and can't handle 5 minutes of stairs here. i guess they're not really "stairs" ... that sounds too dainty. these are the huge stone boulders from hades! the umbrella helps as a shield, but sweat is still dripping down my face. in streams. when is the last time you had streams (not droplets, not beads) running down your cheeks and dripping off your nose? or was i just crying .... then i felt something crawling on my leg and reached down ... but it was just all the sweat dripping down them too.
if there was one thing that made me happy, aside from finally being able to cross this off my life's to-do list, it was that i wasn't the only one having trouble -- everyone was suffering. we were all miserable .... and we had all paid to do this! what a scam! i thought this might be what childbirth is like ... everyone is miserable going through a tortuous experience experiencing such great depths of physical pain and mental exhaustion ... but then there is that great reward at the end and the misery turns to triumph, pride and accomplishment. so i keep going.
i make it to the first landing and contemplate turning back down, but the this is where everyone turns around and heads back down. i head up to the next station and take a little breather. the steps are a lot less crowded up here so it makes it easier to take little breaks. i've been climbing for about 20 minutes now and the rest of the group is ahead of me too far to see.
i head out for the third station and start to feel woozy. i have only fainted one time in my life (9th grade, mrs. perrigo's front yard) and if i didn't rest it would be two times. not wanting to collapse on a great wall of stone in foreign land, i rested. i made it up to the fourth landing, but knees were shaking, face was sweating, eyesight getting spotty. i needed to sit so i plopped down next to a chinese boy (left) and a father and daughter from miami (right). we were all pooped. i stayed there until a local woman approached the garbage can and instead of throwing her empty water bottle away, hurled. she was about 3 feet away from me, so i didn't get any riccochet. i felt bad for her, but was glad it wasn't me.
a few minutes later the kid next to me spit. everyone spits everywhere in china. it's totally disgusting, but i wasn't too alarmed. but when someone does it that close to you it gets your attention and creeps you out all the more. but that was just a prelude to what came next ... which was his lunch of chicken and rice. a chunk landed on my shoe and i pretended not to care. the kid starting crying, as kids do when they throw up, and i felt really bad for him. nothing is sadder than a sick kid. it made me wonder about how important was it to climb this damn wall anyway -- people were miserable, puking, passing out -- and for what?
it made me think of the wall in a whole new way ... as an ancient form of chinese torture. not for the enemy but for their own soldiers who had to patrol it. as someone pointed out when we asked why it was built in the first place (to protect against the mongolians), weren't the mountains enough of a barrier? i mean who was going to climb these mountains (torture enough) and *then* mount an attack? anyway, my brain was getting foggy and the puke smell baking in the sun got to me, so i had no choice but to head up to the next station.
at this landing there was a lookout ledge and i sat down here for the next hour. there was a nice breeze and i got a chance to cool off. i was about halfway up the wall and i knew the others would have to come back down this way, so i waited for them and people-watched. there is great people watching here .... tourists from all over ... experiencing the universal language of pain.
a woman was practically crying as she descended with her husband .... her calfs were cramping and she was in pain. another guy totally bit it descending, which appears to be even more challenging than the ascent. great.
to start with it's another scorching day ... temps in the triple figures and humidity not far behind. this section of the wall, as with most sections, were built high atop the mountains that separate china from mongolia. as we're approaching, my eyes are glued on the lush green mountains looking for any sign of concrete. i see some straight ahead and can't contain my excitement. 'is that the wall?!?!? is that the wall?!?! our tour guide doesn't share my enthusiasm and utters the chinese equivalent of 'like, doi' while the rest of the gang plays it cool .... but i know they're all excited too.
we pay our entrance fee and take a bazillion photos before we even start to climb. it's so hot outside (by now it's about noon) we all stock up on water and i buy a nifty green pearly parasol to help keep the sun off me. there's no shade on the wall.
the walls looks like it goes straight up the mountain and for the first time i realize it's all steps. i thought you climbed a staircase or a ramp to get up to the wall, then you just walked along the wall ... nope. you climb stairs AND a ramp to get to the wall and then the whole damn route is steps. big steps. imagine what the stairmaster in hell looks like and that's how big the steps are.
this is going to be a doozy. there's about 5 stations you can see as the wall heads up the mountain and i wonder how far i'll make it. you can see others climbing, and most only make it to the first station before turning around and coming back. i wonder if it will satisfy me enough to just be *on* the wall ... or if i really needed to do all that climbing. peer pressure got the best of me and after stalling about 15 minutes checking out the souvenier stand .... drinking water .... fixing my umbrella .... tying and retying my shoes ... only poom is left so we decide to head up together.
the steps are even steeper and higher than they look.... and they're worn down in the middle from years of wear making them grossly uneven. this is fertile ground for sprained ankles. i am winded by the time we climb the stairs and the ramp to just get to the wall itself. but there's old ladies ahead of me and if they can do it ....
i keep climbing and can't help but wonder how i can do 40 minutes on the stairmaster at the gym and can't handle 5 minutes of stairs here. i guess they're not really "stairs" ... that sounds too dainty. these are the huge stone boulders from hades! the umbrella helps as a shield, but sweat is still dripping down my face. in streams. when is the last time you had streams (not droplets, not beads) running down your cheeks and dripping off your nose? or was i just crying .... then i felt something crawling on my leg and reached down ... but it was just all the sweat dripping down them too.
if there was one thing that made me happy, aside from finally being able to cross this off my life's to-do list, it was that i wasn't the only one having trouble -- everyone was suffering. we were all miserable .... and we had all paid to do this! what a scam! i thought this might be what childbirth is like ... everyone is miserable going through a tortuous experience experiencing such great depths of physical pain and mental exhaustion ... but then there is that great reward at the end and the misery turns to triumph, pride and accomplishment. so i keep going.
i make it to the first landing and contemplate turning back down, but the this is where everyone turns around and heads back down. i head up to the next station and take a little breather. the steps are a lot less crowded up here so it makes it easier to take little breaks. i've been climbing for about 20 minutes now and the rest of the group is ahead of me too far to see.
i head out for the third station and start to feel woozy. i have only fainted one time in my life (9th grade, mrs. perrigo's front yard) and if i didn't rest it would be two times. not wanting to collapse on a great wall of stone in foreign land, i rested. i made it up to the fourth landing, but knees were shaking, face was sweating, eyesight getting spotty. i needed to sit so i plopped down next to a chinese boy (left) and a father and daughter from miami (right). we were all pooped. i stayed there until a local woman approached the garbage can and instead of throwing her empty water bottle away, hurled. she was about 3 feet away from me, so i didn't get any riccochet. i felt bad for her, but was glad it wasn't me.
a few minutes later the kid next to me spit. everyone spits everywhere in china. it's totally disgusting, but i wasn't too alarmed. but when someone does it that close to you it gets your attention and creeps you out all the more. but that was just a prelude to what came next ... which was his lunch of chicken and rice. a chunk landed on my shoe and i pretended not to care. the kid starting crying, as kids do when they throw up, and i felt really bad for him. nothing is sadder than a sick kid. it made me wonder about how important was it to climb this damn wall anyway -- people were miserable, puking, passing out -- and for what?
it made me think of the wall in a whole new way ... as an ancient form of chinese torture. not for the enemy but for their own soldiers who had to patrol it. as someone pointed out when we asked why it was built in the first place (to protect against the mongolians), weren't the mountains enough of a barrier? i mean who was going to climb these mountains (torture enough) and *then* mount an attack? anyway, my brain was getting foggy and the puke smell baking in the sun got to me, so i had no choice but to head up to the next station.
at this landing there was a lookout ledge and i sat down here for the next hour. there was a nice breeze and i got a chance to cool off. i was about halfway up the wall and i knew the others would have to come back down this way, so i waited for them and people-watched. there is great people watching here .... tourists from all over ... experiencing the universal language of pain.
a woman was practically crying as she descended with her husband .... her calfs were cramping and she was in pain. another guy totally bit it descending, which appears to be even more challenging than the ascent. great.
posted by christine at 5:14 PM
1 Comments:
ok, so little amy and her friends had the great idea of daring me to wear a t-shirt ("I (heart) America -- Feelin' the love since 1776") and shorts (stars and stripes boxers) on the wall. i'd get $1 per item if i'd wear them on the wall and get my picture taken. it was totally embarrasing but i did it and was pleased to be the laughing stock of the day for people from many different nations. thanks to amy for being a good sport and letting me double the fee to $2 per item once the temps hit 100. pic will be posted soon, so stay tuned.
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