We got up early to start our journey to the Great Wall and the tour guide talked the ENTIRE WAY and was upset with people for falling asleep. He was quite rude. And on top of that he took us to a JADE factory. I didn’t mention how yesterday he took us to a pearl factory. It’s very frustrating – apparently they take you wherever they want and there isn’t much you can do about it. (they get kickbacks for it) AND there were people in glass box actually carving the jade! The day started off so poorly, I thought it might be doomed.
Then we visited this place called Commune by the Wall that is a series of 20 houses all designed by different Asian architects (Shigeru Ban was amongst them). Gated and very high end – you can rent them for about $2,000+ a night. The economic split here has been very strange to observe…We only got to go in three of them, but it was a really cool idea. Unfortunately, they weren’t all upkept very well, because nothing in China is. The furniture was often very dirty and not something I would be happy paying thousands of dollars for! They were great party houses and I don’t think anyone would argue against having pieces of The Wall in your backyard….
It was also pretty amazing to see such clean modern architecture in China since so much has been dilapidated or…ugly.
But then came THE WALL and it was AMAZING. Completely redeemed the morning’s sour events. It turns out the wall is not continuous at all (though every picture ever taken would have you believe so). It is no longer taken care of either, so many unbroken sections are dividing as parts crumble. Because the wall is built over mountains there are varying levels of difficulty. We happened to go up a very advanced one.
No one EVER mentioned how there are stairs allll the way up the wall. It’s hardly even a wall! It’s allll stairs. The tallest were about 2/3 the way up my calf. It was not a piece of cake. Getting to the top (our section ended) made it all worth it. The wall just snakes across the hills.
I still can’t understand how it could have been built. If I had such a trying time walking up a fairly small section (about an hour’s worth of stair stepping) how could anyone have managed to carry all of the stones up there, and maybe what’s more, how in the world did they stay in place while the mortar was drying? Some of those stones are at a 45 degree angle…..
It was a little breathtaking. I wish I could have gone early in the morning when it was cool and there were no people – I think it would have been more.
It’s a pretty special thing to get to do. I’ve finally seen a Wonder of the World!
And what a wonder it is….
On our drive back we went past the main stadium for the Olympics and the swim stadium and both are amazing – but the main stadium (Herzog and de Meuron) takes the cake!! It is sooo cool. They are all about skin (the wrapper of a building), as you could maybe see in the Tokyo Prada building, and this is no exception. I’m excited for them that their stadiums are impressive!
Otherwise, I’m a little worried for the city. It is in such a rough state I really don’t know how they are going to pull it together for the world. I walked to a busy area a few blocks from my hotel last night and WOW. There were holes, granted small holes, but they were deeper than my leg and not marked in anyway. The sidewalks were hardly that, just dirt and very often interrupted with piles of rubble and holes. They did have construction crews out working on an area of the street but they were stirring up so much dust it seemed dangerous! And if not dangerous, down right disgusting.
It is so dirty, just so dirty.
I really wish I could stay longer just to understand it. The city is kind of awful. People push and shove and hock and spit and there is dirt everywhere and no sun and everything is huge.
I got stuck with a vendor who wouldn’t let go of my arm after I showed interest in a Mao watch (his arm is the ticker…it was pretty funny) and she actually would not let go of me. She seemed so desperate. It’s, it’s sad.
I feel awful about it.
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