the path (and, as our friend Russ says, all the way along the Wall if it'll get you to by something--as we would soon find out). We got topside and were awed by the view. On all sides there was greenery, save for the slice of stone cutting across the land, about 15 ft wide and 1,000 of miles long. The Great Wall of China is actually the culmination of many mini Walls that were connected together under Qin Shi Huang's rule in an attempt to keep out the opposing Xiongnu people. (He's also behind the whole Terracotta Army business.)The going was slow and treacherous, especially for acrophobic me. A very insistent and, eventually, helpful farmer merchantwoman ended up walking a long way with us. Her name was Sila (I think) and she was very persistent, especially seeing how terrified I was. She kept telling us about a shortcut farther along, one that would cut out many of the watchtowers in between us and Simatai. It seems sacrilege to come this far only to be half-assed about the Great Wall, but, truth to tell, I was too scared of the sheer drops, the uneven and precarious footing, and the angle at which the steps were set--about 60 degrees from lev
el. Worse, when we started, there were (we were told by Sila) 30 watchtowers between the two sections of the wall (like this one here). We met Sila at about the third and managed to the eighth, where Sila told us the shortcut would take us over to the 25th. That would have been great, if the shortcut didn't deviate so much off the tourist (read: beaten) path. When we got onto the shortcut, Sila and her other guy friend, another merchant, had to help me because my shoes were slipping on the gravel. We didn't make it far before William and I decided to turn back. At that point, I kind of gave up. I just wasn't having fun and my body was already sore. (We were sure to pack lots of water and food and a travel first aid, in case, and all in my big hiking pack, which probably weighed something like 25 lbs.) William suggested we turn back, and after some hemming and hawing (I felt guilty for having come so far--China, Beijing, Jinshanling, Great Wall--and being so racked by my fear and exhaustion), we decided to go back the way we had come. I felt doubly embarrassed and frustrated since the troop of kids from Corvalis seemed to be clipping along without a care in the world. Sila helped us call Mr. Bao back, so he could get us at Jinshanling... again.Sila and her friend helped us back. I should mention that somewhere along the way, before turning back, I asked Sila why she was helping us, and she gave us the honest answer: she was helping us so we would help her by buying some of her wares. Now back at the third tower, from which the cableway would return us to the ground, Sila and her friend--whose name I cannot remember--broke out their wares. They had been so helpful and even kind, and Sila and I shared words from our respective languages, so by the end of it, I was resigned to buy something. I ended up purchasing a book on the Great Wall and a T-shirt from Sila, and William bought a T-shirt from her friend, both of which proclaimed that we'd climbed the Great Wall. Then it was to the cableway and back down to the entrance grounds.
I apologized to William for ruining his outing, but he wasn't miffed. He was happy to be out in the open, in nature, and with me, I presume. We are very lucky.
Mr. Bao didn't seemed too miffed either, although he did have to charge us more for the tolls he had to pay there and back. We got trapped in horrible traffic, due to the laying down of some new pavement. It took us four hours to get back to the hotel, where we paid Mr. Bao 870 yuan and dropped onto our bed expecting to nap for a couple of hours. When I woke up again, it was midnight and we were still too tired to get food.
:)
Next: Pandas at the Beijing Zoo and bargaining for a pink wardrobe;)
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