The Chinese Wall
Monday 14 August - The Chinese Wall
The Chinese Wall is an interesting monument of pointless war effort. Built as a defense wall, it was not particularly effective, because it was virtually impossible to completely man it. On the other hand, it seems to have been moderately successful as a road. Our experience made that hard to believe, because climbing the wall is quite strenuous. And by climbing we mean walking on top of the wall, because a convenient cable car brought us there (some of the sturdier in the group walked up.) What else is there to tell than the fact that it is an incredible sight? Well, maybe the net the salespeople span for you. When going up they all wave innocently at you, already pointing at their wares, saying “come later, I remember you”. That already gave us a sense of what was still to come, because on the way back they closed their trap and ganged up on us, all claiming “I remember you”, as if that alone obliges you to buy something from them.
The Great Wall of China – impressive. The endless, irregular wall meanders through cricket la
den trees, always along the mountain ridges. We arrived early and hat the wall to ourselves. It was hot and moist again, the wall’s uneven stones became very slippery. Niels and I agreed that this was the ultimate monument to the Chinese wall-fetish (it seems the Chinese love to surround everything with walls, see the Hutongs, the Forbidden City, etc.). In the distance, rugged mountains peeked through the mist. The faraway nubs on the wall reminded me of the “Beacons of Gondor” in the ‘Return of the King’. A majestic sight, even ore so because any point to the wall has ceased to exist long ago.
Climbing the wall is a challenge
Illegal salesman on the wall (instead of at the foot of it). He managed to secure our only purchase (an overpriced bottle of ice-cold water).
