Hiking Up the Great Wall

The view of the Great Wall is always stunning -- if you climb up onto it

I can say that I've been up the Great Wall at least five times now -- Badaling, Mutianyu, Jinshanling, Jiayuguan, the furthest west section, and now Simatai.

Each time the landscape is amazing -- well at least the last four. Badaling is just a sea of people crowded on the wall.

WTown is a nice tourist attraction in itself

This time a friend who can read Chinese helped us figure out how to get to Simatai. At 9am we met at Dongzhimen bus station (northeast corner) and got onto the 980 bus that left shortly after we got on. It was about an hour drive before the bus arrived at Miyun Qiao Xi stop and we got off, crossed the road and then took the 51 bus all the way to Simatai.

The second bus was quite the experience -- we were sitting shoulder to shoulder with real locals, farmers who lived in the area, which ranged from very rural looking with cornfields to suddenly looking very developed with four-way stops and grocery stores.

People on the bus talked very loudly even though they were sitting next to each other, including a trio of young women wearing the same yellow sweatshirt and constantly on their phones chatting online with their friends.

At one point, one of them peeled a mandarin orange and was so enthralled with the fresh scent that she broke off two small pieces of the peel and stuck them in her nose. How attractive.

The town is picturesque and looks pretty authentic!

Finally three hours later we arrived at Beijing WTown, the address is Simatai Village in Gubeikou Town in Miyun District.

Some tourism sites say WTown looks fake, but to us it looked pretty authentic. Remove the gaudy new signage and modern snacks like ice cream, and it could easily be the set of a period drama. The buildings looked pretty real complete with nice Chinese-style doors and windows, while there are many nice camera angles of the waterways complete with boats gliding along the water.

The 170 kuai admission includes entering the town and the Great Wall, but the real ploy is to get visitors to hang out in the town and spend, spend, spend -- and even stay overnight in the town as there are hotels there.

At the third watchtower looking back

But our mission was the Great Wall and after a hearty lunch of Taiwanese beef noodles -- ordered on WeChat -- and we quickly walked through the town to get to the entrance of the wall.

We had to walk about 1km on a hilly path to get to the actual wall, so by the time we arrived our hearts had already had a workout. This section has 10 watchtowers, though the first one is across the river on the other side and not connected so we were actually starting at the second watchtower.

The climb here was very steep! We were all breathing heavily walking up the narrow steps and tried to keep going at a steady pace. There were several people on the wall -- including people carrying babies, but not a massive crowd -- perhaps they were too busy taking selfies in the town below.

Every time we looked back, the landscape was stunning. We kept climbing and taking pictures until we reached the seventh watchtower and a kindly middle-aged man told us this was as far as we could go.

How come? We asked.

He explained the rest of the wall was being reinforced and it would take two months. But by this point we were pretty tired and had done a good chunk of this section of the wall. At this point there was just a pair of German tourists, a middle-aged Hong Kong couple, and us.

A staff member telling us to turn back

We walked down to the sixth watchtower which was 500 metres from the cable car and we took that down for 90 kuai each. The ride lasted just under six minutes and it was another dramatic view of the area. We were surprised only a handful of people were taking the cable car up to see the wall!

Down at the bottom we took a bathroom break -- washrooms here were extremely clean -- and then made a beeline for the exit. We had already missed the 3pm shuttle but weren't about to wait until 5pm for the next one so we waited for the 51 bus to get back.

This time farmers were taking their goods into town -- one elderly woman had bags full of giant leeks, cabbages and even a bag full of peanuts. Taking the 980 bus back to town took longer as we arrived during rush hour. But we got back safely and very hungry!

Beijing WTown
Simatai Village, Gubeikou Town
Miyun District, Beijing
www.wtown.com
www.smtgreatwall.com

Silk Road: The Massage Report

Just around the corner of the hotel on the left side is the massage place

On our Silk Road trip, we did quite a bit of walking everyday, and my mom and I (and some other tour members) were keen to take advantage of any massages we could get in the evenings.

We managed to get a few -- with some interesting stories in between.

In our first stop Lanzhou, we were unable to get one -- the place that other tour members had gone to, all their staff were busy by the time we arrived. The receptionist asked us to wait for 20 minutes or half an hour and since it was already late and we would have to wake up early the next day, we didn't want to wait another minute.

But then when we arrived in Wuwei, we discovered our hotel had a massage place on the third floor and my mom and I decided to check it out.

When we expressed interest in a massage, they took us down to the basement floor. The staff asked us if we wanted new slippers for 10 kuai or just clean ones for free. Excuse me? I had never heard of that before. We opted for the clean ones. They basically took our shoes hostage.

Then we had to decide on a 260 kuai massage for 80 minutes or 298 for 90 minutes. We pick the former and then we are led down to a changing room that has some lockers and the staff patiently wait outside while we change into some clothes they gave us.

After we're done, they take us back up to the third floor where we passed by a massive room filled with chairs (and smoke) and we entered a room for two people. There weren't any massage beds, but a raised platform for us to sit on.

We waited for a long time before two girls dressed in black short shorts and high heels come in. Obviously they are dressed for the opposite sex and were disappointed we're women.

While soaking our feet in very warm water, they massaged our heads, and then they moved onto the shoulders, neck and legs. She even used her feet to massage my inner thighs -- how creative.

One interesting move was me putting my feet on her knees and holding onto her hands and she was able to lift me up! Another was pulling me up from behind! Crazy.

At Jiayuguan, we spied some massage places near our hotel and checked one out after dinner. It was on the second floor of an old building that was quite dark, but since there were five of us we thought it would be OK. A Chinese woman followed us up because she was scared to go up on her own.

It turns out the place was run by a group of women and our first impression was seeing a half naked little boy running around. How professional.

They seated three of us in one room, two in another and the masseurs chatted among themselves while we stared at the TV.

At one point they started talking to us, asking us where we were from and even asking my mom's age. They were shocked to find out she was older than they thought because for them, someone who turns 60 is old.

The massage was done on a massage chair that could be flattened for us to lie on our stomachs, but it wasn't too comfortable. But for 108 kuai, what do you expect?

Our best massage was in a place in the same building as the Hilton Urumqi but around the corner, above or below a karaoke place. The massage place was very classy, the staff very polite and gave us the clean slippers for us to walk into a room big enough for five of us.

They gave us pink outfits to wear that looked like pyjamas and we could have slept there too it was quite comfortable. We were given tea and fruit, and our clothes stored in a Chinese cupboard while we sat in giant lounge chairs with mini duvets too.

Each of the young women had strong hands to give us really good massages working out our individual tight spots. They even gave us heated bean bags to put around our necks. Premium service. We were all in massage heaven.

Silk Road: Jiayuguan and the Great Wall

Visiting Jiayuguan, the western outpost of the Great Wall

Jiayuguan was the last part of the Great Wall before heading towards Central Asia. It was built during the Ming Dynasty with stones, bricks and rammed earth, those these days it's been fixed up for tourists.

Tourists sampling some Peking opera at Jiayuguan

It was here that people had to have passports if they wanted to travel beyond the Great Wall along the Silk Road. The passport was a document in calligraphy that had their name and the emperor's seal on it. Outside of the Great Wall were the nomads called Xiongnu, Mongolians and Tibetans, basically barbarians.

Today's tourism officials have tried to spiff up Jiayuguan by making tourists feel like they are going back in time. There are "guards" standing by the gates and later on they parade around a "prisoner" in a wooden shackle before they start showing off some amateur martial arts routines.

Around the corner up on a high but small stage are Peking opera performers in costume complete with musicians. Did the audience really have to crane their necks to see the show back in the day? Just wondering.

One tourist giving his best drumming performance

There were also some odd-ball amusements -- literally. Our tour guide was so excited to shoot tennis balls from a mini cannon at a target that he did it twice, for 20 kuai for each round.

One of our fellow travelers paid 10 kuai to be able to hit a massive drum 10 times. However, instead of just banging the drum, he did a little dance routine as well, much to the amusement of local visitors.

Tourists could also purchase the "passport", where your name would be written in calligraphy and stamped with the Imperial seal. Strangely not many interested in getting the "modern antique" document.

People needed to carry passports to go beyond this pass

After our visit, we headed to a nearby part of the Great Wall, called The Overhanging Wall. It's called that because it looks like it is clinging onto the cliff. It also apparently has the nickname "Western Badaling" because it looks similar to the popular part of the wall near Beijing.

Our tour guide challenged us to climb up to the top, so five of us women took it on with aplomb. It took around 20 minutes to get up, and climbed over 400 steps. My aunt and I were the first to go, and it wasn't too difficult a climb, just that it got steeper and we stopped periodically to catch our breath.

When we almost got to the top, I heard a small boy's voice shout, "Ayi, jia you!"

I climbed the Overhanging Wall!

I looked up to see a boy, about five years old looking down at us and smiling with three other male adults. He kept shouting, "Ayi jia you!" "Auntie, add oil [keep going!] and I thanked him for the encouragement.

I regret not taking a picture of him before he scampered off again to the next section of the wall. We soaked up the amazing view below, celebrated our summit with three others before making it down again. Now I can say I've visited four parts of the Great Wall -- Badaling, Mutianyu, Simatai all near Beijing, and now the Overhanging Wall in Gansu province!