China just keeps getting better and better. I am really feeling that the mere four months I am here is in no way a proper amount of time to truly experience the culture, but I am trying. This weekend I was able to do something that very few people have even gotten to do - well at least living people, because back in the day the Great Wall had thousands and thousands of people sleeping on it every night - last night it had nine. We were able to do it through some connections that our teachers had. It is suppose to be illegal to go on parts of the wall which are not deemed public tourist spots; but in rural areas, unlike the cites, farmers actually own the land (in the cities they lease the rights for land for 50 to 70 years). Because we went with the man who owned the land, apparently it is ok. (I have learned that in China most things can be illegal if people want them to be and on the contrary, most things are legal as long as you know the right people.) We started our adventure in a village about 2 hours outside of Beijing that was surrounded by massive mountains on all sides. The Great Wall was hugging its ridges. We had to do about a 1 and a half hour climb to reach it. We hiked up these switch backs through awesome orange and yellow leaved trees - fall has arrived in Beijing! When we got to the top, it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! We arrived at the highest point of the Great Wall on the highest mountain in the area! We were looking down at the wall as far as we could see in both directions. This was the real Great Wall, not the rebuilt part meant for the tourist, with vendors all along it. We were the only people there. It was overgrown with plants that covered most of the walkway, many parts of it had crumbled and it was pretty dangerous at some parts.
We ended up camping next to the wall using it as a wind shield. It was truly necessary, because of the wind and all the trees; it sounded like a raging ocean the entire night. We cooked skewers and told stories as we watched the sun set behind the Great Wall. At night, we tried climbing back onto the wall to look at the stars, but the wind was so fierce that we couldn't even get on top for fear of getting blown off. We laid there looking at the stars and just knew that at that time, there was no where else that we wanted to be.
In the morning, we woke to see the ground caked with a fresh layer of leaves from the previous night’s gales. We hiked back up to the wall and watched the sun climb up into the sky and light up everywhere. Throughout the whole trip we just couldn't stop saying things like "hey guess what, we’re on the Great Wall", we were so stoked on it.
My next camping experience is going to have an extremely hard time matching up to this one. Then again, if all goes to plan, my next camping experience will be in December when I tour on bikes around the island of Hainan and camp everywhere! I really have an awesome life.
My cycling race went well last week. Because I was borrowing a bike from someone who raced in a lower division, I had to race against Trek China and Specialized China; that was pretty difficult to say the least, but I was just proud I didn't get last. Tomorrow, I have my next race it should be even better. I am hooked on bicycle racing! As everyone knows, I have been stoked on bikes and am an advocate for their use, but until last week I had never raced in an official bike race before. It was so invigorating and the people are awesome; they even gave me my own racing jersey and shorts. I am an official Peking University rider!!! In an few months, I will be racing for the Claremont colleges.
Thanks to everyone who sends me updates about their lives, please tell me more! vmanineu@gmail.com
Much love
YOU STUPID MONGORIANS
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