The great wall and the great birthday

Thursday September 4th - written by Alan:

Despite my protests Erik had set the alarm for 5:45am. We had to wake up so early in order to get our taxi to the great wall, which we had arranged to pick us up from Charles' apartment at 7.30am. Also the plan was to get drinks and food to sustain us on our hike before we got picked up. Normally I would be late of course, but with Erik's cajoling and Priscilla's warnings to be on time I managed to get up and ready to take the subway to Charles place by 7am. A quick call to Priscilla revealed that the girls had taken a more leisurely start to the day having slept through their own alarm, so Erik and I headed off in search of breakfast ourselves. Erik and I struggle ordering anything without the girls so it was McDonalds for breakfast - at least with that we can just point. I am sure anyone reading this will be mortified, but I can assure you we are having lots of great chinese food when we do have the girls to order for us which is most of the time.

The taxi ride to the great wall took about 3 hours. Most of the ride was on a very modern motorway that was almost deserted of vehicles. I continue to be surprised at quite how developed China is compared to some of the other countries we have traveled to. Perhaps this will change when we move on from Beijing.

We had planned to hike along the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai which would take about 3 hours. We decided it would be best to use a guide to show us the way as we were going to walking along some of the unrestored sections of the wall. We set off with our guide who told us we could take a cable car up to the wall which was quite a way above the entrance. Most people seemed to be taking this option, but we decided to be energetic and walk up which took about 20 minutes. Along the way we picked up a few hanger ons. As they were all female I assumed that they were interested in Erik and I, but it turned out they just wanted to sell us stuff. We were kind of surprised at this because we were all getting tired out by the walk, but they seemed quite determined to follow us, despite the fact that we might not buy anything. In the end we decided to tell them to get lost rather than have them follow us all the way along the wall. Erik and I felt bad though and bought a couple of picture books. We had to pretend to the girls that we really wanted them and weren't just being soft though.

The wall was very impressive and we were amazed at the effort it must have taken to build it. Some sections were very steep and we struggled just walking up, let alone hauling stone after stone up to build the thing. The wall is seven meters high and seven meters wide and stretches for thousands of miles. During our hike we would be passing by just 30 of its 25,000 towers. The wall dates back to the fifth century BC, but was largely rebuilt during the Ming dynasty from the 14th to the 16th century. It was intended to stop invasions from the Mongols in the North.

The section of the wall we hiked is one of the best maintained sections close to Beijing and was particularly good as it was away from the crowds of tourists who visit the wall at Badaling nearer the city. At a couple of sections the wall was impassable but for the most part we hiked along the top of the wall. At the end we were rewarded for our efforts with a zipline off the wall. We had to do this in tandem as apparently we would be too light on our own. I was pleased to hear that this was still the case despite all the eating and drinking I have been doing over the past month.

The zipline was good fun - not quite the adrenaline rush we experienced in vic falls, but good nonetheless.

We had a well deserved meal and drinks after the hike and were then picked up by our driver to head back to beijing. We dropped the girls off at Charles' place and Erik and I headed back to the hotel. We were surprised on our return to find that the hotel had left a cake in our room - it was Erik's 35th birthday and time to celebrate.

Steph had already decided that for Erik to properly celebrate his birthday he had to drink 35 shots and each shot Erik had a mark on his arm (so we could keep track properly). There was some ambiguity to this challenge as to whether it meant shots of beer or liquor. In any case Erik had accepted the challenge. The plan for the evening was to start with a peking duck dinner and then head out to explore Beijing nightlife.

Charles took us to the Da Dong duck restaurant, one of the best duck restaurants in Beijing which must have the best peking duck in the world I assume. At this place they have made it in to a science and have a way of preparing the roast duck so it is extra lean. While it took some time to arrive, the wait was well worth it. The chef sliced the duck at our table. Erik even posed for some photos carving the duck - I think he was up to nearly 10 drinks by this stage and was at the stage where he was prepared to embarrass himself if persuaded (I think I generally reach this stage after 2 drinks!). The duck was excellent we all agreed.

After dinner we headed to a swanky bar nearby called the beach bar. Here we met up with a friend of Steph's from school called Su and some of her other friends. We all headed to the roof together where we discovered the reason behind the name of the bar. They had sand laid out in little sections with beds around the outside. We also discovered the drinks prices which were higher than even similar places in New York. That wasn't going to stop the festivities though, and Priscilla even ordered a round of lemon drop shots to help keep the party moving. Despite this we were still relatively sober compared to some other people in the bar, one girl had passed out on the toilet after being sick and another chap decided to get up on the bar and dance like a maniac and nearly fell off in the process.

Erik was struggling at this stage to reach the challenge of 35 shots, so on our way to the next bar Charles decided to give him a helping hand. Unluckily for Erik this meant drinking a small handle of some foul Chinese spirit that Charles picked up on the way for 10RMB ($1.50).

Erik took the first swig, and he had the most disgusted face ever and wanted to pass it along. So we agreed to be supportive and take a swig each to help him. Immediately after taking a sip, I almost gagged...fortunately I wasn't the only one as steph also almost gagged. Then it was Charles' turn, a bit hesitant at first, but caved in the end and participated in the swiging party. Priscilla took a swig too, but we doubted she took a big sip as she didn't react half as bad as steph and I. She also claimed it wasn't that bad.

At this point, there was still half a bottle left, and Erik was told he had to finish it and if he did he would be awarded an extra 10 shots toward his target. He whined about it at first, and pleaded for help. Charles told me to help Erik out, and I said no way! I am not drinking anymore of it. He then proceeded to say, stop being a vagina and drink it. I responded, fine I am a vagina but I'm not drinking it.

Priscilla on the other helped Erik out by taking a large swig of the bottle before Erik finished it. Maybe she really didn't think it was so bad after all.

By now Erik's target was within reach. Our last stop for the evening was bar street where we had also been on our first night in Beijing. By this stage it was getting quite late and we decided to play a game of dice, which is similar to the card game bullshit. This was good fun and as we played Erik made it past 35 drinks and seemed to be getting a second wind. Steph on the other hand started getting hungry, so we ordered lamb skewers for 2RMB ($0.35)each. She ate 6 or so of them. Greasy, fatty, but delicious. After several games of dice the bars started to close and it was time to head home.

I had the duty of escorting the drunken birthday boy home which provided some amusement on the way. Our taxi driver dropped us someway short of our hotel, but Erik seemed a bit impatient to get to bed and so decided to take a lie down in a hedge on the way. After the obligatory photo, he realized that his bed in the hotel would be a better option.