Beijing, it Turns Out, Does Actually Suck (part 2)

The second day in Beijing was Thursday, and we'd decided to try and see the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. The day before, a lady offering tours of the Great Wall found us at the Forbidden City and had offered an air-conditioned private car, with an English tour guide for 300 RMB ($45 US). Though far more expensive than the public buses (around 50 RMB per person, I think), it was nice not to have to figure out transportation schedules ourselves, so we opted to pay the extra money.

In hindsight, I wouldn't do it again. For one thing, it ended up costing 50 RMB ($7 US - I know, shutup) more than advertised because the section of the wall we visited (Badaling, the most popular) was only accessible via toll roads at the time, which we had to pay for. If we'd have read the business card carefully, we'd have known this, so no biggie. Second, we were hounded awkwardly for tips after the tour was over, which I refused to give because of the following points. Third, we were taken to two different tourist traps (a Jade factory and a tea house) and forced to stay for 30-45 minutes at each place. These places pay our 'guides' a commission for bringing tourists in. The particularly bothersome thing was that we were forced to skip the second destination of our tour (the Summer Palace) because we ran out of time after spending almost an hour and a half at overpriced souvenir shops. Fourth, our guide wasn't much of a guide at all. She spoke English well, but she didn't have anything knowledgeable to say about the Great Wall, and didn't even accompany us on our walk. So when I look back, the 350 RMB we paid was basically just for convenient transportation - which isn't so bad, because it was a 45 minute trek, and a taxi would have cost around 400 RMB from what I understand.

The wall itself was pretty amazing. Like I said, we went to the most popular section of the wall - at Badaling - which meant that there were a ton of other people there. Badaling is so popular that every person and piece of literature we consulted said that we'd be crazy to go on weekends or holidays. If you're considering the trip, I would (blindly) recommend the Juyong Guan section, as everybody (in the know) did to us.

The Badaling portion of the wall extends outwards in two directions from the entrance gate, climbing up large hills on both sides. The more popular direction (by far) is to the right. So, being the obedient little tourists that we were, we headed right.

As the pictures hopefully show, it makes for really pretty scenery. I was surprised by the fact that most of the other tourists were Chinese, forgetting I guess that a fair share of American tourists make their way to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Even funnier, Staci and I must have looked unique enough that we were asked to be in dozens of pictures, and I noticed dozens more were taken discreetly by the more shy ones. This continued to happen all over Beijing. We felt like Brad and Angelina worming our way through the throngs of paparazzi. We both kind of liked it, though any more than four days and I'd have probably started freaking out.

I blabbed for too long again, so days 3 and 4 will be another post.