Having had our fill of the Chinese palatial experience, losing enthusiasm towards Ming and Qing architecture; and showing indifference towards thousands of Buddhas hiding at every corner, we decided to get out of the city and check out the Great Wall of China.
Jinshanling is located over 100km from Beijing and has no direct public transportation links. In order to get there, we had to take a local bus to Miyun and then hire a private minibus to take us the rest of the way. Despite speaking no Chinese, we were still able to do this rather easily despite being overcharged compared to what the guidebook suggests.
Once there, the feelings of being slighted simply disappeared. We commenced our 10km hike and were continually in awe of this incredible man-made structure and surrounding scenery.
The great wall was started in the Qin dynasty over 2000 years ago. It was during the Ming dynasty that major efforts were made to renovate the then-already crumbling structure. Despite the valiant efforts of the Ming emperors, the Mongols and Manchus were still able to penetrate the world's longest man-made structure.
I've read that no one knows the exact length of the wall, with various estimates ranging from 10,000km to an unfathomable 50,000km! The only thing that is certain is that it is not visible from space.
Jinshanling has also been restored like the popular Badaling portion of the wall, but due to the distance from Beijing and difficulty to get there, it sees far fewer visitors and provides a more intimate wall experience.
What's also great, is that at the end of the Jinshanling portion, you reach the Simatai section of the wall: a more raw, unrestored and steep portion of the wall that is currently closed off to visitors. Josh and I followed the wall past a few watch towers before the wall stopped underneath our feet and we could not go any farther.
More than content with our Jinshanling experience, we decided to visit another section of the wall the following day.
Jiankou, touted as the most beautiful and raw section of the wall, has not been restored like Jinshanling. It is almost completely overgrown with trees and bushes leaving the impression that it has been abandoned and neglected for hundreds of years. To add to its allure, it is even farther and more difficult to visit than the other sections.
As luck would have it, as soon as we started our steep 40-minute ascent towards the wall, it started to rain. By the time we reached the wall itself, it was pouring and the visibility was so poor that we could not see more than a few meters in front of us, let alone the magnificent mountainous scenery supposedly surrounding us.
Jiankou is also reputed as the most dangerous portion of the wall, where collapses have been frequently reported and as a consequence, some sections require full-on vertical climbing. Once you add slippery, loose rocks and torrential rains to the mix, you have the potential for disaster if you aren't careful.
After around an hour-and-a-half of soaked climbing, slippery rocks and zero visibility, we decided to head back, still content with our unique experience and knowledge that we were completely alone on the wall that day, no one else being that ambitious or perhaps stupid to continue the ascent.
With a euphoric sense of accomplishment, the day did not end without casualties, that being Josh's passport, which he mistakenly left in an exposed area of his backpack, rendering it completely soaked and potentially ruined.
We visited the Canadian embassy the following day to assess the damage. The agent stated that technically he was supposed to confiscate it because it was in fact ruined, but it was still scannable and his Chinese visa was miraculously still intact. Rather than wait nearly a month to get a new passport and reapply for another Chinese visa, we decided to take our chances with this damaged document. That same night marked the return of Kim from Xi'an and we got to enjoy one final evening in his company.
The following day we said goodbye to our wonderful host and left the Haidian district because we had booked several nights at the Sanlitun Youth Hostel, located not too far from the Canadian embassy.
Sanlitun is an upscale expat area resulting from its proximity to all the foreign embassies, and is also a gateway to many of Beijing's best bars and nightlife. As soon as we arrived, we instantly made friends with the other guests and before long had amassed quite the crew.
After settling in to our hostel on the first day, we decided to go to the Chinese National Museum: an immense building housing both domestic and international works of art, ancient artifacts and paintings.
We devoted our time between the story of post-dynastic China (aka the communist propaganda exhibit of The Road to Rejuvenation) and Ancient China, proving that the dynastic Chinese must have been wasted 24-7 because every second artifact was a spectacularly decorated wine vessel.
On our way back, some Chinese guy stepped on my foot and broke my flip-flop beyond repair, making the rest of my journey through the metro and 15-minute walk back to the hostel one-footed. At least Beijing's transit system and roads are far cleaner than Montreal's!
That evening, some of the staff taught us how to make dumplings and while Josh and the others showed some degree of culinary skills and artistic abilities, mine ended up looking more like dump than dumplings. From this point on we enjoyed beers with our new friends and had international fooseball tournaments.
Prior to this, Josh and I decided that we were not completely content with our Jiankou experience and that we would return when the weather was better. We decided to go on the Sunday and to tell only a few people about it since big groups generally lead to more complications.
However, after having drank too much beer, Josh and I had invited nearly everyone staying at the hostel except two Swedish girls, Camilla and Fredrika, who Josh had jokingly uninvited after we realized that our intended small group had ballooned to a veritable tour group. People I didn't even recognize were asking me if the event was still on!
On Sunday morning, 14 people, ourselves included, were headed for Jiankou!
Josh and I were joined by Laurel, Sinead, Randi, Joey, Ilya and Avi, who were all teachers from western Canada teaching in Weifang. Aside from team Canada, we had two Swedish guys, Joey from Texas, Magdalene from Singapore and her chinese-only speaking friend and Helinä from Finland to finish up our stellar group.
Despite some minor setbacks like bargaining with a guy to get a private bus to and from the wall for 20 minutes only to have the driver refuse at the last minute, and Ilya and Joey getting on a different bus, we all still managed to make it to the wall by noon.
However, the man saw us doing this and as soon as we started to leave his sight, he started to blow a whistle. At this point we didn't know if this was in fact his land and he was signaling to his gun or pitch-fork-weilding family members to get the trespassers (aka us). Needless to say we hurried up so we wouldn't have to find out!
It was an altogether fantastic day and it made Josh and I feel really great because everyone kept on thanking us for organizing the whole thing. Sometimes alcohol-related mistakes do lead to a happy ending!
After a terrific meal, we all returned to Sanlitun for some celebratory partying.
The next day everyone was parting ways and Team Sanlitun would be no more.
How sad.
Josh and I would be moving to Dreams Hostel in the Chinese hipster-district of Golou Dongdajie because Sanlitun was booked due to the National Holiday.
We spent our last few days in Beijing wandering around this trendy district and revisiting Beijing's beautiful back lakes.
On our final evening, we met up with Helinä, Joey, Fredrika and Camilla to watch the unfortunately smoggy sun-set at Jinghan park before having a proper send-off with drinking games and shisha.
Beijing delivered more than Josh and I could ever imagine, with its countless sights of imperial splendor, tranquil lake areas and diverse neighborhoods.
Also, with so many amazing people we met at our hostel and through couchsurfing, Beijing would be hard to beat.
We were quite sad to leave, but we wouldn't be leaving as soon as we had planned...
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