The Great Wall and the peking duck

Early in the morning, we took the subway to the bus station where we boarded the bus that would take us half way to the wall. From there we were to take a taxi, but we were woken up brutally from the nap we caught on the bus and told to get off, only to find out we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. It was the usual tourist trap. Maayan naively answered "yes" at the bus station in the morning when asked by a woman if we were going to walk on the wall. The woman then spoke to the bus driver, who delivered us to her friends who were waiting eagerly in the "middle of nowhere" in which we were dropped.

Got it?

So, here we were, surrounded by "taxi" drivers willing to take us all the way to the start of the hike, then pick us up at the end of it (some 10 km away). Sweet.
Shay haggled like there is no tomorrow, then got them down to less then half the original price. It was actually not to bad to be driven there and back instead o taking the usually over-crowded minibus (last minibus ride Maayan had chickens under her seat and- no offense, the locals stinck!).

We arrived at the Great Chinese Wall a lot earlier then we expected (it took almost 3 hours to get there as it was) and ater the initial climb from the parking lot, we started walking on the wall itself.

It is beautiul!



The 10km section on which we walked is not the widest part on the wall - no more then 5 meters at the widest point and as little as 2 in places. It is only renovated at the areas closest to the villages - at the beginning and end of the hike - the rest is somewhat crumbly.
This is one of the renovated parts:




The hike is all up and down :) the wall is on top of the ridge and gaurd towers are located at the highest and lowest points in irregular intervals. And mountains and valleys all around!



There are stairs whenever the decline/acsent is steep - stair size varies from mini-step to Extra-Large Giant-step. And I mean Giant. Some stairs were more then knee-high (for Maayan. Shay was later heard to comment "the stairs where not so tall").


All the way, the locals are sitting on the wall, selling anything from T-shirts and souveniers to ice water and cold beer.


Some of the towers are ruined. The local villagers took a lot of the bricks from the Great Wall to builed their homes (which is why only sections of the wall survived while others are completely gone).








At this part, the wall is only an elevated road, really. The batresses are missing






At the river, you pay to cross or walk back the way you came...




Ater a 3 hour hike, our driver was waiting for us at the end of the trail and happily inquired if we had lunch (probably wanted to take us to eat at his uncle's place), then took us back to the bus.

We arrived in Beijing in early afternoon and after a rest went out to try some more of the local cuisin
Peking Duck

The duck is served sliced: skin (suculent, said Shay), lean meat, and fat meat - each served on a separate dish, with all that was left of the duck (bones, fat and other parts) served later ater being deep-fried. You also get flat pancakes, sliced cucumber and scollions and a sauce.

1. Spread sauce on pancake
2. lay on the pancake your choice of duck, cucumber and onion
3. roll
4. eat


Look how much Shay is enjoying himself: