Day 366: The Wall

Beijing – Mutianyu – Beijing, China

There are numerous places one can access the Great Wall. After all the Great Wall is called “Wanlizhangzhen”, meaning “Ten Thousand Li Long Wall.” One Li being 0.5 kilometer. So the Great Wall spans roughly 5000km.

The popular access points are Badaling and Shimatai. They are also the most crowded ones. I was recommended one further away (2.5 hour from Beijing) called Mutianyu.

Although it’s a bit of a hassle to get to Mutianyu, it really paid off. This route must have been listed on the Lonely Planet guidebook since a bunch of foreigners were going to the Great Wall this way. I spent my time with a Welsh family. This was the first time in a while of me interacting with other travelers. It made me realized that it’s harder for me to meet people in Asia. Probably because I look local. This also got me thinking for that day: I wonder if the foreigners feel uncomfortable or inwardly defensive when I start a conversation with them.

A common con game in China (which they put signs in hostel to warn you about it) is for locals, be it young ones claiming to be university students or elderly ones looking all harmless, to strike out a conversation with a tourist, saying that they want to practice their English. The tourist chat with them, stroll together for a while and then will get invited by the locals to go to a cafe/shop to have tea. All is fine and dandy until the bill comes, for it is unreasonably expensive. The friendly locals will suddenly disappear or pretend to be shocked. If the tourist refuses to pay, then big Chinese men will come out prepared to threaten him/her. I know two friends who fell for the scam. I did not. But then again, I look more like the ones pulling the scams. Haha.