Florida Coalcracker Chronicles: Our Sunny Cold Trip to the Great Wall of China

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Our Sunny Cold Trip to the Great Wall of China

Mimi - HeHe - Lulu facing west
Note parapets on north side

We walked all of this wall down to Badaling

This cat was looking for dinner
I told him be careful - he might BE dinner

I like this guy's Red Army hat -
I am wearing my custom made red army khakis -
I had black sweat pants on underneath

When Lulu told me that she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in China - the first thing I envisioned was walking on the Great Wall. The Wall is one of the Wonders of the World. After years of teaching about it - I was going to visit it.

When Jan came - our first visitor - we hired a guide and a car and was hand held through a hazy and windy trip to the wall. It was great - but you know me. If I was there once - I am an automatic expert and am ready to lead a cheap field trip. Our last guest - Mimi - wanted to go. She picked Wednesday because the weather forecast was clear and cold.

Instead of hiring a guide and car - we took the city bus - Express 877. For less than $1 - in about an hour we were dumped at the base of the wall. We went to the ticket window and to our surprised 65 and older can climb the wall free! But if we wanted to ride the cable car to the top - we had to pay $15. The ride to the top of the mountain - where the wall is - was fast - maybe 5 minutes.

The Great Wall is about 25 feet tall. It is about that wide too. It is really two walls with dirt packed in between. The top of it is paved with stones and steps. About every 1/3 mile there is a watch tower. About 30 soldiers were housed in each watchtower. There are a total of 13,000 miles of walls. They started building it as early at 700 BC and built many sections as late as the 1300's AD. There is about 5000 miles of the modern Great Wall left. The Great Wall would easily cover the USA/Canada Border and the USA/Mexico Border.

The wall was built along the Chinese old northern border. It was to keep out the uncivilized Mongols. It also made the Silk Road taxable - you heard of the stories of Marco Polo. Funny - Marco Polo never mentioned the wall in his writings.

There is a myth that you can see the Great Wall from the Moon. Untrue. It would be like looking at a human hair from 2 miles away. You can see it from a spacecraft flying overhead at 200 miles up. The Moon is 240,000 miles away.

Today - the Wall has no value except to tourists. Thousands of them crawl all over it - everyday.

Since we took the cable car to the top - it was a much easier climb than last time. Although it is rough going - at least it is downhill. It is so much fun meeting all the different walkers. Lulu and I wore our Great Wall hats. We bought them for $2 at the mall. On the hat it is supposed to say "Great Wall" in English and Chinese - but I am guessing mine said "American A-hole" because many people had a good laugh when they saw me. They also wanted pictures taken with me.

We found a place to eat right before the cable car. Fortunately for me it was KFC. The girls wanted something exotic. After our lunch - we had a good bathroom stop - then up to the top we went. The blue sky was gorgeous. I could see easily for 10-20 miles.

I would say we walked maybe 3 or 4 miles. At the end was a nice little village where we shopped and shopped. Finally we walked back to the bus depot - we found another Express Bus 877 - hopped in - paid using our city card - and all three of us fell asleep on the way home.

The section of the wall we walked was built about 800 years ago. It is the closest to downtown Beijing. It is called Badaling. So a person 65 and older - can visit the Wall from downtown for $1 - bus and admission. China residents 65 and older - can ride the bus and subways free. So many people go there just for a walk - they even carry a lunch. I was born in 1948 - Red China was born in 1949. The more things change - the more they stay the same.