Back to the Wall

On March 24th and 25th we took a trip with the Chinese Culture Club to the nearby city of Tangshan and the Great Wall at Qing Shang Guan. We left Saturday morning to travel by bus to Tangshan, a trip of 2 ½ to 3 hours. Within 30 minutes of Beijing we were hung up in traffic by the first of several traffic accidents that were to bedevil us all weekend. We were on the throughway and they closed the tollgate in front of us while they cleaned up the mess. Tangshan is notable for two things – it is a centre of china and ceramic production and it is remembered for a huge earthquake in 1976 in which 200,000 people were killed. Because of the delay our visit to Tangshan consisted mainly of an elaborate lunch and then a visit to a china factory. Watching the china being made was interesting, but there was nothing tempting to buy, so before long we were back on the bus heading to the Great Wall.

As we headed to Qing Shang Guan, we noticed that the towns we passed through were very poor. There were a lot of factories and mines and the area seemed to be extremely dusty, dirty and impoverished. Amongst all the industry along the road, there was also intensive cultivation of the land. The road seemed to get poorer and narrower and less crowded and we began to get quite concerned about where we were going to stay. We arrived at our destination around 6 PM, disembarked from the bus and were told to climb the path to the ‘resort’. The entire village had turned out to see us arriving including many mothers and grandmothers with babes in arm, an old man in a wheelchair, a woman on crutches and a man with a broken arm. When we finally arrived, we found the resort quite unique and charming. It was a restored ‘castle’ – really a walled village nestled into one side of the Ming Great Wall. This part of the wall was built later than other parts to defend against the Japanese. Our ‘room’ was a traditional courtyard house and directly behind the house was the wall with a guard tower looming above the house!

After poking around the village, which was lovingly restored, we met for dinner. Because it was early in the season, the resort restaurant was not operating and we were invited to have dinner at a local villagers home. This turned out to be a small two family house with one main room for each family. The room was divided into a sleeping platform and a large dining table. The room was complete with the family TV and family pictures and knickknacks. The food consisted of ‘local specialties’, which were quite a bit different from Beijing food. There were lots of dishes, perhaps 25 for our table of 8 – far more than we could eat. There was lots of tofu, fish, pickled vegetables, chicken etc. – interesting but not exactly our comfort food. The hit of the evening was two blonde, blue-eyed French-Canadian boys aged 2 and 4. As we ate dinner, about a dozen people stood outside and watched the boys play on the sleeping platform. Blondes are very rare in China and everyone wanted to touch them – touching babies is considered to be good luck. We were well up in the mountains and the air was very clear; after dinner we were amazed to see the stars and moon in the night sky. The night was cold, but our beds were cozy with integrated heating pads and big comforters.

The next morning we had an early breakfast and then turned out to climb a section of the wall in glorious spring sunshine. This part of the wall ascended a mountain and because it was unrestored it was very rough and overgrown in spots. We shared part of it with a flock of goats and their droppings! Along the side of the wall as it snaked up the mountain, farmers were cultivating their narrow terraced garden plots. The last part of the climb was quite strenuous and Brenda decided to pass on it, but I persevered and made it to the top. After the hike, we had lunch again in the village and then headed out of town. Less than 5 minutes into our trip we ran into another accident – this time a brand new Lexus had totaled a motorcycle – no sign of the motorcyclist but he must have been hurt. After getting by that we ran into another accident in which a beer truck (yes) had turned over and blocked the route to the expressway. By the time we got around that we arrived in Beijing about 2 hours late. A fun trip but lots of time on the bus!

So that was last weekend. Since then it has been mostly school. We are certainly looking forward to it being over and getting back home. Last weekend I played golf and Brenda toured three museums with a group from the school. I have yet to break 90 in China and this past Saturday turned out to be another challenging day weather wise with ridiculously high winds. So there was an excuse for my poor play – except that the guy who won the tournament shot 76! He must be a player. I have bought two new putters – a Ping Crazee and a Yes Callie. Both are either real or very good copies, but they cost me around $30 – over $200 at home. I am testing them out and so far prefer the Ping. Did I tell you we have a putting green on campus?