The Freaking Great Wall of China!

So this last trip was one of those that you think about, and when you are there, your just like, "I'm here, holy crap!"

We weren't sure if we would be able to make this trip... Let me explain...

This was a very interesting week for us because it is the anniversary of the People's Republic of China (similar to the fourth of July in the states), so we didn't work our usual Saturday and Sunday hours. But we worked them on Monday and Tuesday instead, then we had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. Jim and I wanted to go to Jiayuguan to see the end piece of The Great Wall, but it is very far away and we needed at least three full days to see it. So this vacation gave us the time we needed, but we still had a problem. we could only get train tickets to Lanzhou (which is only half of the way there), and so we planned to go to Lanzhou with a back-up plan if we couldn't get tickets to Jiayuguan.

We started our trip after work on Tuesday night. We arrived in Lanzhou just fine, and we quickly ran to see if we could pick up any tickets to Jiayuguan. We were able to get tickets for a train leaving only an hour and a half from then, so we were very happy about that. We were happy and satisfied that we weren't going to have to use our backup plan.

The train ride was quite nice. We went across a huge desert, with mountains surrounding us. There were sections where you could see the great Wall in the distance, and even areas where you could see caves built into the mountainside for homes.

We even went right by the city where they just recently sent a few men into space. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better 20 hour trip.

we arrived in Jiayuguan, hoping to get a return ticket immediately, but they only had sitting (not sleeping) tickets available, and they were only to Lanzhou! So we were going to have to hope again, that we could find what we needed once we arrived in Lanzhou. We felt we'd be OK, so we bought the tickets, hoping to figure out a way to get comfortable for a long train ride, while sitting. It was around 6:30 pm, so we needed to find a hotel, and soon! This was the first time something happened that I'm sure will happen more often. we went to a few hotels only to be told that they don't accept foreigners! Can you believe that! we finally found a hotel that had one room left, and that accepted foreigners, and booked a room. The room was not that great, I must say. The bathroom sink randomly sputtered water in a freaky way, and the shower was to be barely trusted. Then there were the beds. Sheesh.. They couldn't have been more hard, and with pillows that felt like overstuffed beanbags (No kidding here either. They WERE overstuffed beanbags!!).

Anyway, we walked around for a while and found a place to eat dinner (by this time it was around 8:30pm). We had Ka Rou which is essentially skewered meat and Chou Mi Fan, which is Fried Rice. It was pretty good, but the place we were in was cool. Kinda of like an open air market with shops all around. It was groovy. We then went back to our noisy hotel room to sleep since we had a busy day ahead of us.

We woke up around 7am to see if we could hire a taxi for the day. There were three sites we wanted to go to, and figured it would cost about 120 Yuan (about 17 or 18 US dollars.). We went outside of our hotel and there were a few taxi's just waiting for someone to pick up. The first one said 200 Yuan and we laughed at him and went to the next one. They said the same, but we saw that since this was a holiday week, we weren't going to get the best rates. So we decided the best plan was to have an auction, sort of, with the drivers. Who had the lowest price? They all kindof settled on 160 Yuan for FOUR sites (this would take most of the day), but we still weren't satisfied, and we told them we would just wait, or find others. One finally said 140, and we quickly agreed and were on our way.

The first place we went to was the Wei Jin Dynasty tombs. These are famous for being underground tombs spread over a large area and having many cool painted bricks still in good shape. The tombs are sometimes called an underground art gallery.







It was quite interesting as we pulled up to it, I was wondering where everything was. Then we went underground and it was pretty cool. Unfortunately, they didn't allow for pictures, but I snuck some photo's in the museum as we left.

I saw something that just wont fly in the states.... Here it goes....






Yup, you see that right. FIVE people on a motorcycle! That would help the gas crisis, eh?

Next, we went to THE GREAT WALL of CHINA! This was where I first touched, climbed, and experienced The Great Wall. The section we went to here had been fully restored not too long ago, so it looked very new. The wall was built in the exact same way as the original and in the same spot as the original as well. This section is also not like many you see in travel shows or China guides. It is not very wide or tall. It isn't made out of bricks, but rather mud and hay. BUT, it's still The Great Wall! In fact, later on, I will talk about going to see the first foundation, and western end, of the Great Wall. Here are some photo's:








So, that was great. we were then off to have lunch. We found some non-descript noodle shop and had Beef Noodles. It was pretty good. We then went to the Jiayuguan Fort. The fort was part of the Great Wall and an important defense outpost. They wanted defense from the "savages to the west", since the Chinese rulers said that anything beyond this point was uncivilized savage land. The fort is very cool and massive, but the inside was very empty. While inside, we were able to see the living quarters and shoot bows and arrows. It was cool. I have plenty of pictures of the fort on the photo section of my blog. Check them out. While leaving the fort, you have to walk through a gauntlet of souvenir shops. Most of them were overpriced, but some had pretty cool offerings. Jim and I did notice something very funny while flipping through books they sold. Most of the shops had PORN, yes, PORN books for sell, right next to everything else! It was amazing (but not in a good way)! Imagine bringing your kids to the fort then wanting to buy something to remember the trip by, only to be forced to see tons of books of naked ladies. China seems to be a very conservative country, so this was very unexpected. It was very tacky, but whatever...






Next, we went to the First Foundation (or so they say) of The Great Wall. What that means, I'm not so sure, but it is recognized as the Western tip of the Great Wall.

It was pretty groovy as well. They had recreated a small village at this area that we walked through. Then we did something mildly stupid. We walked across a suspension bridge! It was a strong bridge though, except for the floor. The bridge had huge cables holding it up, but only had old rickety wood flooring!


I was very afraid for my life, but you know, what the heck. It was quite a rush and after we did it, I was happy I did it.

That was it. At this time, we went back to our hotel to gather our things from the front desk. This didn't go perfectly though because our taxi driver demanded an additional 20 Yuan. We kind of thought this might happen, but we failed to have exact change, so I walked to a store and bought a water so we would have exact change to give him. What a goon. The worst part, is that when we were finished with the Jiayuguan Fort, we had to wait for him for about 10 minutes because he had left (probably to pick up some quick fares). We could have left there without paying him if we wanted to be slimy, but we didn't. Anyway....

We then made our way back to Lanzhou by train. Our train had a double-Decker section and nobody was in there so we grabbed a section and were comfortable when we expected our trip to stink.

Once we arrived in Lanzhou, we were able to quickly book a train to our home and all was good.

It was a very good trip, even though we traveled for two of the three days. We saw some really cool sites, and did some things many won't ever have the chance to do.

Till Next Time...