Great Expectations

Day 460
I was up at 6 am and was picked up half an hour later. I sat next to Sarah from Texas, who was also headed to Mongolia in a few days. Most of the bus was filled with a high school group from Texas. I don't think I've been around this many American's since I left the country.

Now, I've seen pictures of the Great Wall, but I figured that a 10 km (6 mile) walk would be nothing. If anyone tells you that they are lying. Luckily there are a lot of people around and everyone is chatty and friendly. I spent some time with Sarah, but she was too fast for me and we were soon separated. Several of the high school kids seemed to be racing to the end. Tyler was slower though and I spent quite a bit of time chatting with him. Still I fell behind. It wasn't because I am terribly out of shape, but because I was taking a lot of pictures, yea, that's it.

Parts of the wall had been restored, but they were still very steep. Other bits were crumbling away. I fell on a pile of dirt and landed on my butt. A few minutes later my right leg went out from under me. I ended up with a lot of scratches and a pretty nasty cut on my toe, but I was lucky. One of the people who saw me fall said that my leg went at such an odd angle he thought I had broken it. Several people helped me up and helped me get cleaned up. For the rest of the trek an English couple stuck to my pace to make sure I didn't hurt myself again. It was very nice of them.

At the end of the trek I found Tyler waiting for his teacher. I had thought I was the last one and was happy to know that I wasn't. To get off the wall you can either walk down a hill or take a zip line across a small river. I went with the latter. It was brilliant. My legs felt like jelly as well and I don't think that I could have walked any more.

On the three hour ride back I sat next to a Parisian who was studying in China. We chatted until we got to Beijing and I went back to my hostel.

That evening I had some well deserved drinks before calling it a night.

No. 2 Check!

Day 459
I was up early and headed right back to Tienanmen Square after some breakfast.

Mao Zedong was China's communist leader. He died in 1976 and a year later went on display. He can only be seen for a few hours in the morning and I had just missed him the day before. Prior to the Olympics last year there was a rather strong movement to bury him in his home town. Some people felt that it was just downright creepy to keep him on display. Thankfully this didn't happen and I got to visit my second dead communist leader. After locking up my things I moved quickly thru the line. When I got into the chamber I didn't have a lot of time to look, the guards really hurried us along. He looked more like a wax figure than a dead man.

When I got done with the mausoleum I went to a never used Cold War bunker. A few tuk tuk drivers kept trying to charge me about $5 to go there, but I knew I was close. Eventually I found a guy who told me that it was closed for the time being. Those tuk tuk drivers were a bunch of wankers.

Instead I hopped in a cab and headed to the weekend market. After some shopping I grabbed a rather yummy lunch before heading back to my hostel. I was surprised to see Alicia there, she had taken a Chinese language Great Wall tour and I hadn't expected her until the evening. We ended up grabbing an early dinner and then chatting with some people at the hostel before calling it an early night.

Forbidden No More

Day 459
After lunch I took the ultra efficient subway to Tienanmen Square.

The square was conceived by Mao to show thee enormity of the communist power. On June 4, 1989 forced pro-democracy demonstrators were violently forced out of the square. It is certain that many people died and more were injured, but China has yet to release the real numbers. The government just sort of pretends that it didn't happen. The 20th anniversary was just a week and a bit ago. I heard that the square was closed that day. It would be easy to do as you have to go to security just to get in it.

It was huge and lined with rather ugly communist buildings as well as a large picture of Mao opposite his mausoleum. I wandered around and took pictures of the monuments while I tried to figure out who was actually an undercover cop and not a tourist. After checking out the square I headed across the street.

I think that everyone has heard of the Forbidden City. It is the largest and best preserved collection of ancient buildings in China. I had heard from friends that the speaker on the audio guide was Roger Moore, a former James Bond. I was highly disappointed to see that he had been retired. Instead I had a woman who paused for way too long between words. The guide was also electronically controlled. I couldn't pause or replay things. Also, it just sort of went off when I was in the area and I wasn't always sure what I was meant to be looking at, sometimes it wouldn't go off at all.

The palace was just stunning. The guide told more stories than facts. The first born sons were often taken away from their mothers, who seemed to always cry themselves blind. It's odd that the same story was so often repeated. There was one structure that was unfinished, but the plans had called for glass walls with fish tanks inside of them.

Some of the palaces had furniture, others clocks and porcelain. Several were about the concubines. In the garden I ran into Neils and Belen who I had met in Yangshou. It seemed like a world away.

As it grew closer to closing time I became more frustrated with my guide and getting it to work. After five hours I had only knocked off about half of the little red dots. If you go to the Forbidden City just skip the guide, its not worth it.

On the way back to the hostel I grabbed some dinner. After cleaning myself up I spent some more time with Alicia before calling it an early night.

It Lives

Day 458
I had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the internet cafe. I then went to get my camera, they asked for another hour. An hour later I got it back, it seemed to be working. However, they wanted more money, I bargained them down and they promised me that if I was unhappy with how it was working by the time I left China that I could have a refund.

I then had to dart over to the Silk Market, I was meeting Sandra from Xi'an. I waited for some time for her but she didn't show, I found out later that she got stuck in traffic. I spent a bit of time checking out the Silk Market and picking up a few things on my China souvenir list before heading back.

At the hostel I found Alicia and spent the evening with her.

Feeling Naked

Day 457

I couldn't find the bus I needed so I ended up taking a cab to my hostel. Once there I dropped off my things and had some breakfast. I also got the name of the place that could fix my camera. It took some time, but I eventually made it there. The guys working there were quite nice but didn't speak any English. We used an online translator to communicate. They assured me that they could fix my camera. I talked them into fixing it over night instead of in a few days before heading out.

Without my camera I really didn't have much on my plate. I spent a few hours on the internet before heading to the train station. I had to book my ticket to Mongolia. The place to do this is not at the train station though, its at a hotel. No one spoke English well enough to tell me where it was so it took me a while to find it. Once I got there I had a ticket in minutes.

I then picked up some books before heading back to the hostel. I had planned on writing in my journal, but ended up watching some movies and then playing some drinking games with other people at the hostel, including Alicia from Texas.