Day 2 - The Longest Flight and the Great Wall

If God had meant man to fly, he would have made friendlier flight attendants. I have never been on a flight where the flight attendants tried to hurry through meals and drinks so fast. They would demand the people standing in line for the bathroom to go back to their seats whenever the pilot turned on the "Fasten Seat Belt" sign. From the time we woke up in Buffalo and landed in Beijing, it was 22 hours of traveling.

Here we are at the start of the trip 

It was a nice flight even though the flight attendants were a bit bossy. Here are a few interesting facts about our flight. We left in the daylight and traveled for 22 hours without ever seeing any darkness. We crossed Alaska, the Arctic Ocean and Siberia. The plane we flew over in was a large 747. The outside temperature was a comfortable -60 deg F. At top speed we flew almost 600 MPH and at an altitude of almost 36,000 feet. (Here is a math question for you, Alex and Mary. Approximately how many miles high did the plane fly?)

We were met at the airport by a driver that did not speak a word of English. He took us on a hair raising ride which lasted almost 3 hours. The Chinese people love to use their horns and they love speed. Apparently, the lines painted on the road are merely a suggestion as to what side of the road you should drive on.

My first attempt at speaking Chinese was a resounding failure. I tried to ask if it was going to rain tonight. He immediately pulled over and put all of the windows down. When I kind of indicated that this was not what I wanted, he started to turn the air-conditioning down. I guess I must work on my pronunciation!

When we finally got to The Great Wall of China we did not quite know what to expect. We met our guide, Sun Hailong at the Jinsanling Gate. We were taken to his home, a small building in which the front room has been converted to a small tourist shop. We were escorted to the Wall and started to hike west for a mile or so. It was difficult walking at times since the steps were deceptively uneven. We turned around when it started to rain.

Our First View of the Wall 

Hailong took us back to his home where his wife prepared us a delicious meal. A few stools and a table were pulled out of the shop and we ate along the roadside. The meal began with large bottles of pijiu (beer). Jon was a happy man. The first dish was green beans with small bits of beef. Five minutes later a steaming bowl of garlic shoots were carried out. We were satisfied with this simple, yet tasty meal. Little did we know that the dishes just kept on coming and coming and coming. We both loved the pork and vegetable filled dumplings which were served with your choice of three sauces.

Dinner 

It was dark by the time we finished dinner and started to hike back up the Wall. Armed only with flashlights, a bottle of water and our day packs we started up the historic 500 year old wall. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to the tower that we would be sleeping in. Hailong tried to make us comfortable. He laid one inch thick pieces of styrofoam on the stone floor along with two layers of sleeping bags. He covered the whole area with mosquito netting and our bed was complete. Before he left he showed us our toilet. It was a bank on the side of the mountain scattered with a few bushes and suspicious looking small brownish mounds. I was not impressed, Jon, on the other hand was almost giddy with the idea that he would soon be able to mark his territory.

It will be hard to top what happened after we got to the watch tower. It is a shame that this couldn't have been at the end of the trip. When Hailong left us, we took our flashlights and walked to the next two towers. Just the fact that we were walking the Wall at night was awesome. With the clouds, there was almost no light at night. The wall looked different when bathed by the light from the flashlights. The only lights visible were one light several miles away and from the farming village. Other than that, there were no lights we could see. I cannot find the words to describe how it looked. I have been to many places in the world. I think it was that sense of excitement of being there and seeing the sights that have made it one of the best things that I have ever done.

The Wall at Night 

The evening was quite warm and humid. We decided to sleep with the door open as this let a small amount of cooler air into the room. Our only light was a single candle since the flashlights that we carried along with us had long since died. We both worried a bit about our safety and the safety of our possessions, but as we had only about four hours of sleep in the last 38 hours, our concerns didn't last long. Although we had the occasional bat looking for some insects, we did end up having one earthly visitor in the middle of the night. A mouse scampered into the tower for a few minutes before being chased back out by Jon. I slept through the whole event. Jon claims that he was awake due to the fact that I was snoring so loudly. What is that man talking about? I don't snore.

We were up by 4:00 AM