The Great Wall, the Ming Tombs and the Summer Palace

Up, up, very early the next day! A definite highlight awaited us and made us leave our hotel even before we had breakfast, as we wanted to be there before the biggest crowds arrive: The Great Wall of China. A dream of most travellers, they say, that you have to be on the Great Wall once in your life. It is quite a monument: Built against invasions from the north, the steppe regions, and to ease communication between different guards, first structures date from B.C. times. Since then, the wall has been rebuilt several times, and while the original structure has been renovated and rebuilt, it still manages to give an impression of its strategic relevance and the skill that was needed to build it. The segments from Ming times are said to be over 8000km long, including rivers, trenches and mountains that form natural sections of the wall. With all branches and sections, the wall length even doubles!

The section we visited was of course on the beaten tourist track again, despite the length of the wall, everyone seemed to head towards Badaling, to see a greatly renovated section, and to walk on it for some time. Choose the direction opposite to where all tourists head to though (not towards the cable car), and you will find sections of the wall to yourself after the initial steep climbs and descends. It is also fun to watch other people climb the slippery slopes, come prepared with some physical fitness and enough water! At the very end, we witnessed illegal souvenir sellers climbing the unattended end of the wall that was closed off to the next section. This way, they get in without paying the entrance fee. As we arrived in early morning, we could still see some blue sky. It was soon exchanged for clouds of smog that creeped up the hills from the direction of Beijing.

After hiking the wall for two hours (something we would feel in our legs the next day), we headed back to the car, and drove to have lunch at a Chinese farm restaurant. We picked omelette, green beans with chilli and aubergine with ginger, and mmm, was that good. Simple food, but locally sourced, and prepared with lots of spices – delicious!

Then to the next programme point outside Beijing, the Ming Tombs. They have been built in a place whose geomancy should benefit the afterlives of the buried emperors. It is good farmland, and makes you wonder how often really fertile land was thought to be the only good enough to give the souls of the deceased a new home.

And then our third stop that day, again heading back towards Beijing: The Summer palace, located at Kunming lake, an artificial lake created to please the Emperor. The whole park and the hill have been created by hand, keeping the idea of perspective and geomantic principles in mind, making it a popular destination today. This again meant that many people accompanied our sightseeing tour – difficult to get good pictures like that, but fascinating to see.

On the way back, we had a small issue with the travel agency, as we would depart the same evening with the train to Datong, but only at 11pm. The driver and guide wanted to drop us off at 5pm at Beijing station already, but we refused to spend six hours doing nothing at the station in a city that offers so much and of which we have seen so little. After several phone calls, we agreed that the driver would bring us back to the hotel, and we would be picked up there by a taxi later. This allowed us to stroll through the Hutong quarters again, make the experience of using a Chinese toilet – squatting, and with no toilet doors! -, and enjoy some wonderful Chinese food once again, this time at a street stall. A leisurely walk back – and as soon as we arrived at the hotel, the heavenly gates opened, and a thunderstorm broke loose. Incredible, this amount of water that came down that night. By the time the taxi arrived, the water stood ankle deep in the streets, and we borrowed two umbrellas from the hotel to get from the taxi stop to the station once he dropped us off there. As it was raining, taxi prices doubled – without pre-booking, it is not possible to get a taxi in such conditions. Hurrying into the station building that was leaking in places, scanning our luggage and searching for the platform, we managed to get relatively dry to the train, that we boarded and where quickly went to sleep.