9/14/07

9/14/07 On a Clear Day
The forecast for today is scattered showers – that doesn’t sound too bad. We’re going to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Angela picks us up at 8 and we are almost ready. It’s raining pretty steadily – perhaps it will clear up this afternoon. After a circuitous exit from central Beijing, jammed with rush hour traffic, which makes us feel right at home, we are on a highway heading north. But first we are first diverted to a Cloisonnй factory, which our guide book (DK Eyewitness travel – great book, lots of pictures and maps, drawback – it weighs 2 pounds) specifically warns against. From the many tour busses pulled up, clearly part of the fleecing the tourist routine. The hand manufacturing process is interesting to watch. Then we are herded into the mammoth showroom. A tiny Lela sized bangle is 45Yuan ($5.75 US), about two dollars more than I would expect to pay for it in Chinatown. I do buy her a small bell with a panda on it. I tell Angela that since we are from NYC, there isn’t much here that we couldn’t get for about the same at home. She seems unhappy to get that news. Another tourist want to take Lela’s picture with Angela, thinking they are mother daughter. We visit the bathrooms, Lela is disappointed it isn’t a “squatty potty” of which she has become enamored since our first experience at the Forbidden City. Jamie vanishes, but since I have lost track of him in many foreign lands, I know he couldn’t take the shopping and went outside. And there he is.
Now we are finally off to the Great Wall. As we start to climb into the mountains the weather is even worse, with fog joining the rain. Suddenly drifting out of the mist is a dragon spine of crenellated wall and towers along the mountain ridge, far above. It’s misting rather than raining, and visibility is poor. We start the climb. We pass the famous chain of locks, where relatively recent legend has it that it will bind true love together. Also a carved quote from the Chairman to the effect that “To climb the Great Wall does not make you a hero.”
The steps are irregular, going from 3 to 15 inches high. Many, especially the outer ones by the hand rail, have been worn into a slippery trench. The wall varies from only a few feet wide, enough for two way foot traffic to a broad platform. It is very steep. I am very out of shape. Panting and wheezing I get to the first guard tower where Jamie, Lela and Angela are waiting, look fresh and smiling, if a bit soggy. Lela should look fresh, Jamie carried her most of the way while she chanted, “I think I can, I think I can.” They decide to go on to the next tower which can only be seen intermittently like a Chinese Brigadoon. I decline on the grounds that dying of a heart attack is not my idea of how to have fun on vacation, and besides there are no photo ops in a wall of fog. Not to mention that my fear of heights inspired vertigo is kicking in and I still have to go back down the first climb. Even though it’s not what I had imagined, it still has an eerie beauty, with glimpses of the towers fading in and out of the cool white breathe of the mountain like phantoms from another time.
Back at the base, Lela has had too much time to hang around the souvenir shops. She is demanding a stuffed panda. Her reasoning is sound. Even though she has a panda, she doesn’t have one here. And her panda at home needs a friend. I give in and also get her a Great Wall T-shirt. The child who only wears pink or purple chooses flaming orange.
On to lunch which is “amazing” located in a jade factory. Seeing the carving process is interesting, but the prices are clearly gouged, make that gauged to the pocket books of “rich” westerners. We don’t buy anything. The lunch is pretty good. Angela has gotten the picture. There is an appetizer of melon in mayonnaise, better tasting than it sounds, an egg and tomato dish that Lela loves, tofu in a mild sauce, steamed broccoli and baby bok choy, and a noodle soup that arrives too late. Desert is watermelon and fresh Chinese dates, that taste like a lady apple. Lela’s desert is an ice cream bar, the freezer having been spotted when we arrived.
We reboard our van for the Ming Tombs. We start to see some real countryside – and it’s full of corn fields and apple orchards. The apples are individually bagged and many orchards are netted. No wonder the produce we see is beautiful.
The tombs are the resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming Emperors. The grounds are quiet and elegant, though clearly prepared for a mob scene during the height of tourist season. We walk along side the funerary walk where the Emperor took his last journey. We pass by the Gate of Heaven. Angela explains that it is custom that you should not walk under it or you may be going to heaven sooner than you wish. Lela sees someone walk through. This sets off a Q & A that lasts the rest of the visit. Angela is earning her money, and we get a break.
We get to the entrance of one of the fully excavated tombs. This is a day of extremes. First to the top of the mountain with the Great Wall. Now we go down, down, down 270 feet below ground level. Nope - no elevators. Knees like jello by the bottom. The tombs are high vaulted rooms. Reproductions of an emperor and empresses' coffins and funerary goods are on display. People have thrown money at many of the displays for good luck. The exit, thankfully, is a at lower elevation. We buy some pink and pale green apples from vendors by the parking lot. They are crisp and juicy. Lela falls asleep on my lap as we struggle thorough Friday night rush hour in a rain storm. Jamie snoozes in the van too.
Back at the hotel I fall asleep and Jamie and Lela go to check out the swimming pool. Lela walks through the foot bath in her jeans. They have to buy bathing caps. Lela swims the pool about 6 times with a rubber float. This is the first time she’s been in a deep pool without a life vest.
Back in the room we decide we are not hungry and prepare to watch the day’s slide show that I have downloaded to our computer. It is too long for Lela who wants the computer to play her Princess CD. Jamie nods off. I get Lela to sleep and plug in my battery recharger, forgetting about power conversion. It begins to melt. Kiss that baby goodbye. Finally we are all asleep.