Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The Great Wall of China
5. The Wall

The Great Wall of China is actually a lot of different walls that stretch out thousands of miles. You get to different walls from different cities. Beijing is probably the most popular starting point because it is the easiest, and also since Beijing is a destination on its own.

The easiest entrance from Beijing is Badaling. Buses and taxis from Beijing go there every day, and it only takes an hour. It is also the most crowded. The only reason we rented a car was so we could get to a less crowded, more scenic section.

Mutianyu is supposed to be far more authentic than Badaling and far less crowded. Fewer people go there because it is harder to get to by bus and far more expensive by taxi. In China, taxi drivers are generally honest, but when it comes to the biggest tourist attractions with the most foreigners that are out in the middle of nowhere, getting ripped off is not rare.

With our own car, we could drive to whichever entrance we wanted. We would also not have to worry about missing the last bus back to Beijing. Some of the buses stop running surprisingly early. With a car, we could set our own schedule, go where we wanted and not deal with scams. That was the plan, at least.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

The Great Wall of China
4. The Hotel

We stayed at the Hotel Cote Cour, a romantic boutique hotel on what was supposed to be a tiny, isolated hutong. Maybe I have adapted to China too much, but it seemed like one large hutong to me. Amy chose a romantic boutique hotel because she was planning on taking a romantic trip with her boyfriend. I could not help her there, but we both appreciated the distinct decorations in our room and throughout the hotel. It did not look anything like every chain business hotel. Boutique hotels are always better for me, but sometimes it is easier to stay at a business hotel when you go to a new city. The rooftop garden was especially beautiful. I'm sure we would have spent more time there.

Not only was the hotel romantic and quiet, but it was surprisingly close to all the action. It was about a mile from the Forbidden City/Palace Museum and Tiananmen Square and maybe two miles to the Temple of Heaven. Even if it was too humid and/or polluted to walk, the hotel was close to the purple subway line, which goes straight to the Temple of Heaven and connects to the rings that go around the city. The point of our trip was the Great Wall, but after visiting that, we were supposed to have a full day to explore Beijing as much as we could before our flight home. That never happened.


The Great Wall of China part 1

Thursday, October 26, 2017

The Great Wall of China
3. The Arrival

People have been praising Beijing's new airport terminal since they remodeled for the Olympics. But that is terminal 3, the international terminal. We arrived at terminal 2, which is for domestic flights and not at all impressive. Not that it mattered. Airports all start to look the same after a while. I saw an online quiz that showed interior pictures of various international airports. I have been to half of them, but I could only identify a few.

We rented a car to go to the Great Wall. Ordinarily, you do not want to rent a car in China. It's just a bad idea all around. In most of the larger cities, like Beijing, it is so much easier to get around without a car. The subway seems to go everywhere. In addition to too much traffic and tiny roads that wind in every direction, Beijing also has a system where you can only drive in the city on certain days, depending on your license plate number. As a way to reduce traffic, the system makes sense, but I'm sure it is a royal pain if you actually live there.

Getting from the airport to our hotel was easier than I expected. It was mostly one freeway that went straight from the airport to downtown. The closer we got to the hotel, the more we had to twist and turn, but that is always easier at the end of your drive. Our flight landed at night and we had a lot of plans for the next day, so the rental car mostly sat parked. Driving around the city would have been ridiculous anyway. We saw a tiny part of the neighborhood around our hotel, but we did not want to stay out too late.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Great Wall of China
2. The Trip

When I first moved to Hong Kong, I assumed I would see the Great Wall of China. It's not that far away. From the United States, a trip to China is a major undertaking. The long flight is almost as painful as the visa application process. From Hong Kong, it is a 3 hour flight to Beijing, and I already have a visa. For whatever reason, I just never went. I have been to the Mainland many times, but I never went any farther north than Shanghai.

Since this was a last minute trip, for me at least, I did absolutely no planning. All I had to do was help Amy change one of the plane tickets to my name, which is harder than it needs to be, and pack my bags. I could probably write a book about what you have to do to change plane tickets in China, but I will not. It would be even more tedious to write than it would be to read. The good news was that she booked and paid for the tickets. Had her ex done it, we would have had to start from scratch, which would have been so much easier.

Monday, October 23, 2017

The Great Wall of China
1. The Substitute

A friend of mine planned a weekend trip with her boyfriend to the Great Wall of China last month. She booked a hotel in Beijing, bought the plane tickets and was ready to go. Then her boyfriend dumped her. At that point, it was too late to cancel the hotel without paying, and plane tickets are always a pain to refund, even when it is possible. She was upset about ending the relationship, of course, but if she did not take the trip, all that money would be flushed away. I was recruited to take his place.

I can't provide the type of companionship a boyfriend can, but I think I'm a pretty good travel partner. I do not have any list of demands and never come home with a list of complaints. Generally speaking, I like to go with the flow. With new places especially, you never really know what you're going to get. There is no list of chocolates on that box.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I was in a car accident last month. It was pretty bad, but I got the lucky end of the stick. The passenger in the car I was driving broke bones in her leg and both arms. The driver of the truck that hit us broke his hand. The driver of the scooter I hit died. It was pretty horrifying to watch, but at least he went quickly.

My doctors tell me everything is progressing as it should. I'm sure they are right. My biggest complaint right now is that I can't sit in front of the computer for more than a few minutes. I will probably write more about the accident later. I want to, while it's still fresh in my mind. But it will have to be in short bursts or after I can last longer.