Day 7. Yixian and Great Wall
We've decided to wait here in Yixian for the rest of the group to catch up. This gave us an opportunity to visit the Great Wall of China some 75km in a north-west direction.
Having gotten in touch with the rest of the group, we decided to
spend another day in Yixian so they could catch a bus to unite the
gang. We spent the morning exploring Yixian but other than some
girls posing for photos outside a photo studio, we didn't find
anything interesting.
[Girls Outside Photo Studio]
Of course, we needed something to keep us occupied in the
meantime and the Great Wall of China would do just that. We
found out that 75km in a north-west direction were sections of the
Great Wall. Given that this was impossible to do in a day on
bicycles, we organized a taxi to take us there.
[Regional Map of Yixian showing the Great Wall of China]
As per usual, the smells originating from the surrounding areas,
farms, residential areas and canals were quite exotic. After
an hour or so we found ourselves surrounded by high mountains.
[Driving in Circles trying to find the Wall]
We could almost smell that elusive wall. Unfortunately our
driver wasn't familiar with the local roads, nor how to actually
get to the wall - a number of detours and frequent stops for
directions resulted in us finally glimpsing the wall perched atop
the jagged mountains. Finally! I couldn't wait to get
within a few meters of the historic construction.
[First glimpse of the Great Wall of China]
However, just as we thought that it would be smooth sailing to
the top, the paved road turned to stone, narrowed and meandered its
way between the steep hillsides. We were now perched with one
wheel on the road and the other clumsily balancing on the edge of a
stream. It simply wasn't going to be. In the distance
we could see three police cars with a number of officers with the
shirts off, chatting, and smoking. Things like that never
turn out to one's advantage, particularly when the police are
portrayed as lazy and unprofessional in front of western
tourists.
[Police In the Distance]
As we'd predicted, the wall will have to wait for another day -
we were stopped by the police, our driver given a verbal reprimand
and we were all sent back to where we came from - looks like we'll
have to make do with a few distant glances at the structure for
now. To our surprise, our driver was undeterred and took a
further 35km detour to another section of the wall. This one
was partly restored, surrounded by a village and demonstrated how
the true wall would have looked some hundreds of years
previously. Fantastic!
Although looking at the village and surrounding buildings, one
could assume that over the many years, the raw materials which
formed parts of the original wall were dismantled by the local
villagers to construct their own homes.
[The Great Wall of China]
Ok, we've seen it, we've touched it, we've walked it, and even
had another brush with the law. Now let's get back to town
because the rest of the boys will be arriving tonight.
We got there just in time to receive a text message from Ray,
saying that they had just arrived, but they couldn't find the
hotel. Yixian isn't the easiest place to get your bearings,
particularly since major landmarks are hidden behind thick
smog. After some creative navigating and negotiating, the
boys managed to arrive at the hotel. I hadn't seen Little
Dave, Ray and Alex for over two years and it was a welcome
reunion. After escorting them to a local restaurant for a
chat and summary of the trip thus far, we left them there to gorge
while we retired for the evening.