The Great Wall

View of a section of the Wall we hiked, from the peak where we watched sunrise


Sun rising over the jagged terrain that the Wall straddles



The zip line we took down from the wall after hiking 11 km of wall. (Our hotel was at the south end of the lake in the upper left of the photo.)

A portion of the Wall we hiked, which extends to the peak of the hill in upper left of the photo, and looked the same behind me, four times over, to get back to our start point.

Some of the 67 towers along the portion of the wall we hiked. Each one guarded by a farmer selling overpriced refreshments to the ill prepared tourists.

The stonewall, ditches and natural barriers that make up 'The Great Wall' stretch some 5500 miles across the country from east to west, and were created in order to keep out the Mongolian hoards that once threatened China from the north. We covered a mere seven miles of the Wall just northeast of Beijing, and every bit of the hike was either up or down hills and stairs, which also makes the Great Wall great exercise. Along the route, we saw more local farmers turned refreshment salesmen, than other tourists, which meant the salesmen were pretty keen on getting you to buy from them. Occasionally one would actually offer a decent price, but most just tried to convince you that it might be your last chance to get a drink this cold on the Wall. Fortunately, since they had to haul the large coolers up the hill and across the wall, they made little effort to stand up or follow you while trying to talk you into refreshments, so the hustling only lasted as long as you stuck around.

In addition to the hawkers, there was also a point along the wall where you cross into another province, and they post a toll keeper to get their cut of tourism revenue, despite the fact that everyone pays to get on the wall in the other province. Since we were with a guided group, we knew this was coming, and our guide paid the toll. However, some of the other tourists were taken a back and thought it was just another scam, or farmer trying to make a buck and refused to pay. One even went as far as to double back up the wall to a point he could climb down to a path that bypassed the toll. And, just like the refreshment salesmen, the toll keeper seemed unconcerned and wasn’t about the abandon his post to intercept the guy and make him pay.

Our tour also hired a local guide to take us across the wall. He began the trip showing some promise by getting on the buses microphone and telling us a little about Beijing. He noted the obvious, that the city had a lot of cars and bikes and that the city wall had been torn down to make room for more roads. And, he closed by saying he would tell us more about the Great Wall when we got closer… he did not. As a matter a fact, not only did he not tell us any more about the wall, while we were hiking the wall, he offered no information about the route, tolls, or history and trailed along within the group like he was just another tourist. When the members of the group did ask him questions about the wall, he had little to no information of use to them. For instance:
Question: "Hey Mr Knowledgeable Guide, when was the wall built?"
Answer, from said 'knowledgeable guide': "From time to time."

From time to time!?! What kind of answer is that?! Although it is kind of accurate, since the wall was built, re-built and fortified from the 5th century BC until the 16th century AD. But still, ‘from time to time?!’ is a little vague. Maybe he could have told us that the Qin Dynasty unified China’s states around 220 BC and significant work on the wall occurred then. Or, that in the 15th century, the Ming Dynasty fortified the wall defenses with the much more elaborate and extensive stone fortifications we see today.

Or maybe, he was just an idiot and really hadn’t even paid attention during his history class. Or even, might have been a high school drop out, and the only job he could pull was this English speaking gig, which applied all language skills he cultivated by watching U-tube and MTV! In the end, I don’t know if I should be mad at him, or the travel industry that hired him to be a guide without any qualifying knowledge or skills.

Aahhh, well, maybe I should just let it go and get back to my experience on the wall. Our group finished the hike in four hours, which our more knowledgeable long term guide for the trip across China, informed us was the fastest any of her groups had ever hiked the wall. (She also later acknowledged the fact that our guide for the Wall, was indeed incompitent.) We were proud of our speed hiking skills of course, although we really had taken our time. Stopping for lunch and pictures along the way... chatting with our expert guide about the walls construction. Really, it was not that impressive a feat, but to reward ourselves, we stopped for an ice cream at the end of our hike. China has some interesting ice cream flavors, like corn, bean and even green peas. However, we settled on the less extravagant flavors like Vanilla with chocolate shell. After our ice cream, we capped off the experience with a zip line ride, which took us from the edge of the wall, over a lake, to a boat that delivered us to our hotel's doorstep. Now that's what I call traveling in style.

Our hotel was simple, but was set on a lake with a beautiful view of the wall towering above along the jagged hillside. My one complaint about the place was the fact that they built the rooms all facing into a courtyard with no windows facing out across the lake to capitalize on the impressive view. The terrain was so harsh you almost wondered why they even bothered building a wall atop the jagged hills, and in fact, portions of the wall were little more than a leveled brick path along the top of hill to accommodate troop movements. However, in the morning we learned just how arduous and slow such troop movements must have been.

We awoke before dawn to climb the wall for sunrise and at first found ourselves trapped within the confines of the hotel walls. After wondering through the kitchen and back alleys of the staff, we finally found a way out and headed for the wall. Our hike was entirely up hill, and what started out as a leisurely stroll, soon became a stair-master championship as we raced against the imminent sunrise. For some the early morning climb proved too much, and they enjoyed the sunrise from points along the way.  However, a few of us made it to the peak and were rewarded with breath-taking views of the of the jagged terrain of sharp peaks separated and accented by the early morning mist that filled the valleys between.

Looking out over the terrain, I again had to wonder how the Mongolian forces ever made successful advances on China. But as Sun Tzu said:
“Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards... Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”

So too was the weakness of the wall, for in the valleys below, concealed by fog, were the rivers that divide the wall. Since the wall was discontinuous the Mongolians only had to find the weak points, which is true of any static fortifications. The French made the same mistakes when they built elaborate and extensive static defenses along the Maginot Line after WWI, only to watch the Germans slip through the cracks at the onset of WWII. But I digress, really you have to, whenever there is an opportunity to rag on the French. The sunrise was beautiful, the Mongolians were peaceful and hundreds of miles away, and I had to get back down the mountain to catch a bus back to Beijing.