China - Aug. 4

August 4th

Um, it's been a wild day. We've been on the bus coming home for 3 1/2 hours, and we're still lost.

(Here, I'm on the bus at the hotel village, waiting for us to take off that morning)

We left this morning at 7 am and arrived at the Great Wall of China a little before 11 am. I was very grateful for the long drive, because we were able to see a lot of China off the beaten track. We saw extreme poverty and beautiful mountains, lots of people and many, many dirty houses. It makes me feel like I am very rich and makes me feel sorry for all these people. The world is strange and unfair. I really loved seeing all the sights though; it makes me feel as if I really have really seen China.

It seems as if there aren't any traffic rules that apply to driving in China. Our bus driver, who someone dubbed "Fred" (we don't know his name), was driving like a crazy man all the way to the Great Wall. Most of the time there was only a two-lane road. He spent most of the time passing other buses from our group, or slow trucks, or small bikes. The "rule" of the road that I've observed, is if you pass someone, you're supposed to honk your horn until they slow down to let you pass. Sometimes it's just an FYI. Whichever way, Fred spent half of the trip honking the horn, and more often than not, over a blind hill or right into oncoming traffic. They just had to move around us or slow down too. Needless to say I just closed my eyes many times. I was around 95% sure that we weren't going to die.

When we reached the access trail to the Great Wall, we were told several different things about what we were supposed to bring with us, so I just took everything. There was a small tourist village, with a few tiny shops and a small hotel. I bought a picture book of the Great Wall and a large, round, pointy Chinese straw hat, that was definitely woven by hand. We had to haul all our stuff up a paved access path, and we collected right below the entrance to the Wall. It was pretty hot, and we had just been sitting on a bus for 3 and a half hours, so I was out of breath by the time I arrived at the base. We set up the band (just the American group, because that's all the room there was room for) and played our songs.

After we finished, they gave us the same boxed lunch that we had for our boxed breakfast yesterday. Natalie and I ate together, and almost got stepped on by a SIX-INCH, bright yellow and black striped millipede that was probably poisonous. Euuu! Glad someone pointed it out to us. We then went up the Wall together and climbed a bunch of steps and took lots of awesome pictures. It was breezy up there, and felt really nice. Even though it was a little cloudy (tourist's luck), we got lots of breath-taking views of the Wall up ahead and the Wall far behind (that was closed off, darn it) (I like avoiding crowds if I can) and of mountains beyond mountains that faded into the mist and cloud. The vegetation was bright green and the air was cool and fresh. After a few flights of stairs, and many pictures, Natalie needed to retire from the adventure, so I went on alone. The stairs got very steep up to the first tower. I took pictures for a group of 6 Husky Band people, one for each, and improved the picture and did it in short order. There was a store selling souvenirs and drinks,but I didn't even look because it was so crowded. I decided to turn back, although I could see people way in the distance. Kaitlyn said she and Kyle went the furthest of any band member. Instead of going back to the buses, I went off on a branch of the Wall where no one else was going. It was great to be able to take pictures without anyone else around. I met a couple stray Australians and a Chinese woman that sold me a really nice book for 40 yuan under the asking price. Haggling has become quite fun. I think I might miss it back in America. I did a little bit of running up and down some stairs, just to be able to say that I ran on the Great Wall, and because it was exhilarating.

This day has made my trip. Whatever happens from here on, the entire cost of the trip was worth it. I stood on 3,000 years of Chinese history - there can be almost nothing cooler to do.

The drive back was intense. One of our mellos had forgotten to use the restroom at the Wall, so we stopped at the McDonald's in the city we drove through - the only one we've seen outside of Beijing. Unfortunately, 3 other buses that were following us, stopped as well, so I heard that the line was ridiculous. The driver mistakenly thought that people were only going to use the restroom. It's funny how in America, people sneer at McDonald's, but give them nothing but Chinese for 3 days and the next thing you know, 80% of the bus all of a sudden "has to go". I went across the street to the public toilets, which was a lot faster. When the drivers wanted to go after 15 minutes, most people were denied their burgers. We took off again, but now the bus drivers couldn't find their way back to the street we turned off of. A little while later, another mello girl had to go really bad, so we stopped at the side of the road and she ran into a cornfield to pee. She was wearing shorts, so she got all sorts of scrapes and mud all over her legs. After all this, we were still lost in backwater China. The buses went down a bumpy dirt road, past construction and huge concrete pipes sitting on the side and very poor houses, some of which had livestock like donkeys and goats in their front yards. We got lots of stares on that one. The people that were building a brick wall waved to us with their trowels.

It took our buses 45 minutes to get back to the village. When we got back, we all went straight to dinner, since we were late. I ate some rice and soup (these have become my staples) and then we went back to the hotel. I blogged while my crazy mello friends, except for Natalie, who went to sleep, went and bought beer and other alcohol and had a "party". Kaitlyn got back to her room right when I finished my blog, and we had a nice chat about almost everything. I then took a shower and went to sleep.

Jp