That really big barricade (Thursday)

Today was another free day for the family so we went to see the Great Wall. Instead of going to the two locations nearest to Beijing center, we headed to a place called Mutianyu. Badaling and Juyongguan are both nearer but tend to be more crowded and have fewer towers. We were drawn to Mutianyu by the “toboggan slide” ride - a kind of dry bobsled course you navigate on a wheeled cart. Google “Mutianyu toboggan” to get an idea of what I’m talking about. This to us looked like a lot of fun for all of us to enjoy. In order to get to the wall - and the top of the slide - you need to take a cable car - think “gondola” if you’re a skier. There are 22 watch towers along the Mutianyu section of the wall, all spaced fairly closely. The towers aren’t particularly unique or distinct from one another. These were after all buildings that served an eminently pragmatic purpose - shelter soldiers while they stood watch - so like most armies, or other governmental agencies for that matter, the Chinese built their towers in a fairly consistent fashion. Once you’ve found something that works, why change it? Well, the varying terrain is one strong persuader. So some variety was necessary. You can think of these towers as variations on a theme. What we found is that the first two or three were interesting. After that, there wasn’t much new to see within the towers…aside from the people. You see, it’s been hot here, well over 90 with humidity above 50%. So the towers offered some welcome shade and became a kind of locus for weary walkers. And, oh yeah, the wall isn’t flat. Within a few paces of our starting place, our shirts were beginning to soak through. 

Originally we planned to take a cable car to the top of the toboggan slide, walk around a bit, then ride the toboggan back down. However, our guide told us the cable car near the slide takes you to tower 7, on the lower section of the wall. Better views are to be had toward towers in the high teens & 20s. So we abandoned our sliding adventure and instead climbed into the cable car for tower 14. The car ride was spectacular, climbing up the inside of a valley covered throughout by a 30-40’ tall canopy of deciduous trees (not sure of their names). Toward the top, we began to take in views of the familiar snaking wall. 

We had been told by the orphanage staff that Ca had been on a field trip last week to see the wall at Badaling and that she had been afraid of heights there. So we were prepared to have a very anxious little girl on our hands. Well, she thought the gondola ride (a little unnerving) was a thrill - squealed with delight and threw her hands in the air - and was just as adventurous and energetic as we could have wished for. We noticed that when the grade changed from steps to sloping ground, she expressed anxiety and wanted a hand to hold. But she kept up with us with a great attitude and seemed to have as much fun as we did. It was a wonderful, memorable (although very hot and sweaty) day. 

The gondola ride is fun!

The sweat is about to start flowing...

The wall through mist/haze/pollution/whatever - it's still beautiful!

 

From the top of one tower to a view of the next one

Awww...

The towers were great cool, shady spots. Also relatively crowded.

You may have heard there were several very large explosions in Beijing overnight last night. These occurred in the port city area of Binhai, near Tianjin. Downtown Beijing, where we are, is over 90 miles away. We neither heard nor saw anything about it until our tour guide mentioned it to us on our trip.

During our drive, we discovered the hard way that Ca gets carsick. After she was sick, she told our guide that this is fairly common for her, although we’d never experienced it. A great excuse to buy a souvenir t-shirt, and a lesson learned. Now she sits near the front and looks out the window.

After we were finished at the wall, we stopped off at a jade workshop/factory/showroom/restaurant combo, where we got lunch and an explanation of the jade mining/carving process. It was fascinating.

Arriving home we had just enough time to get in a passionately requested swim before the hors d’oeuvres buffet opened. After another dinner of bugles and sesame sticks (Ca discovered them on Tuesday night and has eaten very little else for dinner since) - and some delicious dumplings, bruschetta and other tasty treats for the rest of us - it was time to get ready for bed. Our plan was for E and I to go to the nearby market and pick up some cough drops for I’s sore throat and a few other items, while B got Ca ready for bed.This was not our best decision of the day. When we returned to our room, Ca motioned energetically to go down. We took this to mean she wanted to go down the elevator to the lobby for some reason. Since we had to change some money anyway we took her with us. Once we finished we all returned to the room and, upon reflection, we think she was expecting us all to sleep. When E & I left, she was alone with B. They got as far as removing her shoes, then the tears came. First she went stock still. Then the look of sadness quickly replaced by the look of betrayal. Slowly, oh so slowly, the tears came…and then the sobbing. I (B) tried everything I could think of - gentle touch (which was swatted away), a soft voice with words of love (English isn’t cutting it), singing, making faces in the mirror, offering her the phone to play with, showing her the city skyline at night from our window, offers to paint her nails, and finally…bubbles. I played with bubbles solo for probably 5 minutes before she warmed. After about 10 minutes of play together we went over to the window to look for Mama & Guhguh (big brother) on the sidewalk. We watched for maybe two minutes until they returned. At which point she motioned to E that she wanted to take her bath.

While Ca had been warming substantially to B, we made a mistake in moving too quickly with her trust especially at the end of the day when Ca was most tired. The dissatisfaction with Daddy remained through the rest of the evening, but was gone by the morning. This is the dance we’re performing together.