On the third day in China, we went to see the wall. (Sing that sentence to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas.) The section we wanted to see, called Simatai, is suppose to be a great three hour adventure from point A to B. This section has not had much restoration performed on it, most tourists avoid it, and so we wanted to go. To our disappointment, Simatai was closed for, we suspect, renovation...Boo.
Our second choice was to take a guided tour of the most popular destination on the wall, called Badaling. The tour we signed up for was suppose to also visit the Summer Palace, but we learned after departure that we would instead be visiting the Ming Tombs, along with government run jade and silk factories.
Clear skies.
The Ming Tomb was interesting, but unfortunately our guide was in a rush to get us to the restaurant/jade factory where we'd be eating lunch, so our tour was painted with a broad brush. From what I gathered, the emperor's tomb is located in a place that people believe is in the afterlife. This is why you walk through a gate to 'return' back to the during-life. Our guide, English name Sherry, told us about a group of Palistanians (we couldn't tell if she meant Pakistanis, or Palestinians) who wouldn't walk through the official gate back into during-life. She said it had to do with some religious belief they had. Her story was completed by stating they were the worst group she'd ever had, leaving little doubt that they were ranked as such because of their belief(s). Did she know there was a Muslim in our group? I don't think so. And I thought Americans were the only religiously ignorant people of the world.
What the Emperors use to eat.
As I mentioned, the tomb visit was followed by a stop at a government run jade factory, where you can see how jade is cut and polished, then you can buy all the real jade pieces you want at a 'good price'. The whole thing seemed a bit cheesy; dragging a group of tourists through merchandise before they are allowed to eat. But to a couple American fashonistas, that place was a gold mine.
By the afternoon, we were busing up the mountains and catching glimpses of the Great Wall weaving through the landscape. We arrived at Badaling and matched Sherry's sprint up to the tour group staging area. Once we had our tickets, we got the VIP pass up to the...amusement park ride. I felt like I was back in the states at Oaks Park. The ride consists of individual cars, hooked together in an endless line up the hill to the official Wall. Screw walking they say.
Once on The Wall, we were given 45 minutes of free time to walk around. In that time, we attempted to reach the highest point we could see, but amidst the crowd, we did not succeed. We were told to get in line for the ride down at the end of our time allotment. The endless line of personal cars were fragmented into sections of 12 or 15, the first car operated by an employee who was responsible for operating the brakes. In the end we made it down without any issues.
The experience of this trip brought out a few introspections among the group. The three of us enjoy and seek the back door destinations to get a truer cultural experience and to avoid the crowds and hustling. Throwing us into this kind of tourist paradise results in either; "What a waste of time and money!" Or, "Hey, let's look at the bright side." We opted for the latter this time around.
I'm not sure how the rest of the group is feeling now that all is said and done, but I've come across a few moments of pondering since my return. As I mentioned before, our group likes to seek the less traveled spots, but why? I'm going to speak for myself here. Am I simply trying to be better than the rest of the schmucks in some way? Why do I feel entitled to have a non-crowded section of The Great Wall all to myself? Am I a first class tourist among second class tourists? After all, I'm just as much of a tourist as any other tourist. I can't speak the native language, I don't know most of the social customs, I am on vacation in a place where I intend to spend my foreign earned cash and stimulate the tourist economy.
To some extent, this complex I have stems from my guilt as a native English speaker (and travelling through France not knowing French, dicks). Not only was I lucky enough to learn the international language first, but I'm affluent enough to afford extravagant trips to the Great Wall. Most people in the world aren't lucky enough to have just one of these privileges. Those that do have the ability to travel, must learn some amount of English to communicate outside places of their native tongue. In addition, those locals who work in tourist hot spots must learn English to serve people like me. I think I may have a complex, and I think I've written tourist one too many times. More to come.
Tourist.
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