Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Jinshanling



On Monday morning, all 60 of the students in the program piled into two big Greyhound buses and set out on our first school trip. We first headed to Jinshanling, which is about two hours away from Beijing. Jinshanling is the most well preserved part of the Great Wall, and it is beautiful. We went through the gate and immediately started the hike to get there.

On the way up the mountain to the Wall, we were ambushed by a huge group of people of Mongolian descent, who started counting us off like a herd of sheep. They have a system of picking a few hikers and following them around, offering to carry their bags, or take their picture, or just help them across the wall. They are so persistent you don't really have a choice but to let them walk beside you.

We got to the first tower at Jinshanling and the real hike began. The steps on the Great Wall, although well preserved, were very steep going both up and down. We had all dressed for very cold weather and we were all sweating. My old Mongolian woman kept taking me by the hand while I was going down steps, which was a little embarrassing because I considered myself to be in pretty good shape and she looked about a thousand years old and would probably hike the wall five more times that day. The guides were of all ages, old men and women, young men and women, and children, and they seemed to have no problem at all with taking the Wall as far we wanted to go.

The views were so beautiful, and the Wall is just amazing. When you see it in pictures it's hard to believe how big it is and how functional it is even though it was always built over the most difficult parts of the mountains. I was so thankful to get to see it.

On the way down, the Mongolians use the time to try to get money from us. They show us products like books on the Great Wall, a teeshirt that says "I climbed the Great Wall" and postcards. When you refuse to buy them they send you on a guilt trip, saying "I climbed the Great Wall with you and went all that way and now you won't buy anything from me?" Many succumbed to the exhorbitant prices for the souvenirs and paid almost $20 for the books, postcards, or teeshirts. But I knew better, and tested out my newly found bargaining skills and bought a book from the old woman who held my hand the whole journey on the Great Wall for $2!!!! I was kind of excited and a little bit guilty, until someone on my bus told me that they generally get those products for free or stolen, so no matter what I paid her she would have made a profit.

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