Beijing, China
There are multiple sections of the Wall that tourists can visit while in Beijing. I can’t remember the name of the place dad and I visited last time but this time I went to Mutianyu. I think the surrounded mountains felt a little more lush this time. That may be because it’s spring or it in fact may be an area with more vegetation. The drive out took an hour and forty-five minutes. As we approached the base of the mountains I saw what I thought was a hoop that may have a view of the Wall. I couldn’t get Vivian’s attention fast enough to make the driver stop. But she assured me that we would go out the same way and that I could look at the hoop when we left.
This portion of the Wall has two cable cars to the top. It was clear Vivian wasn’t huge on hiking or frankly moving that quickly, so she suggested we take the cable car to the top. I didn’t really mind since I had hiked to the top with Dad previously. Once on the Wall Vivian told me she wanted to stay in the landing area while I wandered around. This wasn’t that big of a deal but again it was a very different experience than my previous trip with Dad and David, where David took every step with us and added informational details with each one. The biggest issue with not having Vivian on the wall me with was my inability to have my picture taken. I’m not huge on having my picture taken but there are a few exception where fun situations present themselves. I had one of those moments on the Wall.
As many of my regular readers know, I like to climb statues, walls, towers, etc . One of the “Towers” on this section of the Wall had a perfect place to climb for a photo. My only problem was a didn’t have a person to take it. I scoped the scene for a while. Eventually a white looking guy walked past me and I decided to ask him if he spoke English. He stopped, turned around, looked and said in a quintessential British accent. “Why yes. Quite well actually.” I asked him if he would wait to take a photo for me while I climbed up the tower. He laughed and said sure. I scurried off, climbed the tower, and he took a great shot.
I ended up talking to Andrew for a good 20 minutes. He was hilarious and quite handsome. He had perfect British lines like, “Once you get up here it all looks the bloody same doesn’t it.” And “I’ve been hiking for a long time. I thought I wanted to go to the top but, hell, it just keeps going.”
I didn’t spot any more hoops walking around the Wall or the grounds at the base. Therefore I asked Vivian to have the driver take me back to the hoop I saw on the way in. I got a shot. It’s not nearly as good as what I was hoping for or what I’m sure exists out there. I asked Vivian if there was any chance of going to another part of the Wall but she wasn’t having any of it. Unfortunately this probably means I will have to go back to the Beijing, yet again, in the near future ;~)
On our drive back to Beijing we hit some standstill traffic. Literally drivers were standing outside their car doors looking around. I was fearful this meant we were going to be sitting there for a very long time. Thankfully it only took ten minutes or so for traffic to start moving again. Within two hours we were back at the Raffles Hotel.
I had this feeling in my gut that there may be another hoop in the Forbidden City, so I decided to go and pursue that before heading back to the Silk Market to pick up a few more things. The Forbidden City was a five minute walk from my hotel. I made my way down the street and into the free part of the City. I revisited the court I’d found previously and then continued further inside the compound. Low and behold I found another set of hoops and courts. I really wish I had pursued more hoops in the Forbidden City yesterday when the sky was bluer. I still got some decent shots but maybe more importantly I learned a hard lesson, being that you can’t rely on guides, particularly foreign female guides, to have any idea where basketball hoops are located. You really have to search out each site yourself.
After wrapping up my hoop hunting at the Forbidden City I hopped on the subway and rode down to the Silk Market. Joyce had requested a couple more items that I wanted to try and get before meeting Lei, a friend from my MBA program, for dinner. I had some success at the market but not as much as I would have hoped, mostly because I was out of time.
Lei picked me up in a cab outside the market and we set off to have Hot Pot at a restaurant called The South Gate. The food was quite good and the company was even better. I hadn’t seen Lei in nearly six years. It was fun to catch up on old stories, friends and to get many of my questions about Chinese culture answered.
I didn’t make it back to my hotel until 11PM. It’s now almost Midnight and I’m not very packed. To that end, I have to wrap this up.
I’m off to the airport early tomorrow.
Until then,
Katy
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