“He who does not reach the great wall is not a man!” Mao Zedong
The Great Wall was one of my biggest inspirations and must see attractions in China.
We were staying at Leo Courtyard a super social youth hostel in Beijing. It was a perfect escape from the busyness of China. They had a fooz ball table on the top floor, and “Buy 2, get 1 free” beer specials that we took full advantage of during our stay there.
This is where we spent many an evening meeting and challenging new friends to multiple games such as “The Holy Trinity” which were three super cool friends biking through China: Elaine (Ireland), Philip (France) and Matheo (Slovakia).
Anyway, I digress.
When we saw that there was a “Secret Wall” tour offered through the youth hostel, we jumped on it. There were good reviews of it on Trip Advisor so we thought why not? The Secret Wall tour is a section of the tour which is undiscovered by tourists, and is open to only our group of thirty or some odd people.
And so we set off and met the group at 7:30 AM in the morning. We boarded a bus and rode for about 3 hours. And it was quite entertaining on the bus, there was a Southpark marathon, non stop Southpark episodes playing on the D.V.D. including the episode where the “Crazy Mongrorians” keep attacking the great wall.
We got to the wall and proceeded with our 10 KM hike which lasted about 2 hours. This picture was taken at the end of it, with big sighs of relief after hiking great lengths of dodgy wall and ten fortresses.
Yeah all in all the wall was breathtaking. The hike was beautiful but it got a bit monotonous after the first half a hour. There are areas of the wall that are so dilapidated and over grown with grass, eroded rock which led to me bailing (lightly) twice on my china bought sneakers. I love hiking, but it was so hot!! My mentality during this hike was, well it’s gotta be done at least once in your lifetime. The Great Wall has nothing on the grouse grind!
Okay, but then get this, after hiking for 2 1/2 hours, drinking all our water and dying for lunch, we find out that our bus got caught in a traffic jam. And we’re all thinking okay how does a bus get caught in a traffic jam when it had like 3 hours to come pick us up? Well it turns out that the last time they had a big traffic jam like this, it lasted for 9 DAYS!!! Well that’s China for ya!
So we sit by the side of a road for about an hour, before the guide decides well this is not happening anytime soon. Let’s start walking.
We started walking in the countryside. Then onto the highway, and we kept walking…. and walking…
We walked through stretches of highway with trucks loaded with all kinds of things: red peppers, tomatoes, bok choy, pigs, horses, cows, you name it.
It was quite the experience. The upside, though was there was water, and snacks available on the sides of the roads. Everyone could have gotten really bitchy, but no one did. Everyone shared their snacks, water, and laughed at what a crazy experience this was. We hiked for about another 3 hours before we even got to the restaurant. The walk on the highway took more time than the great wall.
This was our reward at the end of the day. While the food looks delicious, it was all cold and extremely unsatisfying. The only thing that made it tolerable was the company and the beer. Who thought I would ever say that?
Anyway, nothing went as planned which I am realizing is the norm when you are travelling through Asia. And you always have a choice to go with it or go against it. Going with it is much easier, which I realized at the end of the night as I was feeling filthy, covered in dust and entire body achy and dissatisfied with the food.
But it’s a great memory, filled with shared laughter, friendship and culture.
I’m glad we did it, and would definitely do it all over again.
xx phyllis
