China, Studies: Beijing – To the Wall!
Published: 26.12.2015
Our great journey was about to end. But at that moment it still seemed we would travel for couple of more weeks. Imagine a group of four ragged students waiting for a bus while sitting on cobble stone. We were hoping for it to come any minute… Yeah, any minute…
We had encountered couple of such buses in China. Months worth of experience in this country taught us that patience is important. He/she who waits gets what he/she is waiting for. We were observing a married couple. They couldn’t stand it and entered an overpriced cab. We checked our water supplies and put headscarfs on before the heat would vaporize us.
This was our last trip together as a group in Asia. Our plans was as always – to conquer the Great Wall of China. To be more specific only its section called Huanghuacheng黄花城, literally „the wall of yellow flowers“. This section should be really easy to access. Moreover, it has been partially renovated yet not crowded. Most tourists don’t need to see anything else besides the most famous sections of the wall such as Badaling八达岭 or Mutianyu慕田峪. These sections are frequented by trips organized by travel agencies.
The bus arrived. But it would be too perfect had everything be alright. So, the bus that we get was of a different number than was supposed to come. However, it seemed to be in the right direction, at least. The bus stopped. A lady jumped at us (we call them “ticket witches”). It seemed she had a bad day that day because she shouted at us before we even got into the bus. It was long time ago when we learned that somebody shouting at you isn’t worth any reaction. One should only insist on what he/she wants. She realized that we knew the price of ticket and that we can even read it. She muttered something and let us in.
We took seats in the back of what was hardly brand new bus. And the road was hardly renovated with care. We somehow managed to not to pierce through the roof of the bus. Since the bus was barreling at good speed we remained quiet and held on tight to our seats.
The closer we got the more people got off. Mostly locals were travelling with us. We felt bit uneasy when a family that also intended to visit the Wall got off much earlier than we intended. But we remained on our course. Even this was what we had learned there – even locals were not predestined to be always right . The “ticket witch” told us “so you’re up” as our reward. We took our luggage and got off the bus.
We were standing on a crossroads. The Wall wasn’t visible – as it happened once at other section (forbidden to enter by tourists). Only dust surrounded us. According to our friend who happened to spend a night over there the solution was easy. Just go straight on. This is, however, bit more complicated to realize while at a crossroad. We came to a conclusion that we should just climb up to reach the wall. The Wall has been standing for some time anyway. But let not keep it waiting. …
GPS: (Peking) 39°55'30.8"N 116°23'58.2"E
Text and photo: Hana Bašová
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