My Crazy China Trip - (Day 2) The Great Wall

A novice traveller gets more than he bargains for during 15 days in China.

The Great Wall in the rain



Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 1, Beijing  here.

My Crazy China Trip

 

Day 1

 

Beijing

 

[Rated M]

 

I woke up feeling a bit better. Except for the tooting cars. That gave me a headache, or maybe it was the air pollution. Still, I had to get up because today was the day I was going to see the Great Wall.

My sister’s Chinese neighbour has a sister too. She lives in Beijing. He’d arranged for her to pick me up and take me to the Great Wall. I wondered if it was good idea. I didn’t want to put anyone out and sometimes people want to do different things. My sister said it’s not polite to say no, hospitality is a big part of the culture.

I was in my room looking at the laundry price list – it seemed a bit expensive although I might have mixed up the exchange rate – when the phone rang. It was the sister. ‘Hello. We go to Great Wall today. I come to hotel very soon, ok?’

‘Hello’ I said. ‘Nice to talk to you.’ I looked out the window. ‘It’s raining’, I said. ‘Maybe we should go tomorrow?’

‘Sorry. I work tomorrow. Rain no problem. Great wall always beautiful. Maybe rain go away soon.’

‘Ok’ I said, ‘see you soon.’

I had quick breakfast. It wasn’t much good. The poached eggs were lukewarm. Yuk. The hotel was saving on gas by putting the burners on low. I did have some more steamed buns with the red dot on them though. They were nice.

After that I waited downstairs in the lobby.

One and half hours later she arrived in car with her young son. He son sat in the back playing video games while I sat in the front and chatted to the lady. She was very nice and pointed out lots of local landmarks. We had plenty of time for that because the traffic was terrible.

When we got to the wall I put on my jacket and started to climb up. It was still drizzling as we climbed. The lady said when we get to the top we would see the view. ‘Rain go away soon, no problem.’ It didn’t. I could see the wall but no view.

At each stage of the climb on the way up there were stalls selling souveniers. There were some sweat shirts with “I Climbed the Great Wall” printed on them. I’d like one of those I thought. I asked how much they were. They seemed expensive. Then I remembered I would have to bargain to get the price down a bit. The weird thing was as I got higher the price went up and up. What was that about? I was putting in all this effort and the sweatshirts got more expensive. I decided to wait until I got back down to the bottom

            After we went down we had lunch in a big restaurant. It was mostly empty. Everyone else had decided today was not a good day.

I told the lady how, on the way home, I wanted to visit the hutongs, the little alleyways where most Beijing people used to live. There aren’t many left and I wanted to see the old walled courtyard houses before they all disappeared. She said ok, no problem.

The traffic in the afternoon was even worse. I asked if she could drop me off and I would go there myself. She said don’t worry, traffic go soon.

            One and a half hours later it was dark and we finally reached the hotel. No hutongs for me. I thanked her very much for driving me and gave a small gift to her son, a toy car. He opened it, took one look and dropped it on the floor and went back to his video game. So cute. Kids are all the same.

The lady gave me a little box to take to her brother. She said it was from the Uncle and her brother would know what it meant. It was very nicely wrapped.

            I was hungry and decided to go to the famous Wangfujing food market. I’d read about on google and it sounded great. I got a taxi and there it was. Loads of stalls. I tried scorpion on a stick. Crunchy but not very filling. After that I tried the Mongolian mutton kebabs, nice but chewy. Then I spotted something really amazing. I watched a man fill a ladle with uncooked potato chips and then add an egg, then he fried it all together in a big wok full of oil. It was delicious. I knew Chinese food was great but this was the best I’d ever had.

 

            When I got back from that I just wanted to go to sleep. I was just dozing off when the phone rang. I wondered who could be ringing me? No one knows where I am, except my sister. I answered the phone.

“You want massage. Very relax and very good price.”

It was the hotel massage service.

“No thanks” I said. “Please don’t call me again. I’m tired and I want to sleep.” I hung up.

 At about midnight the phone woke me up again.

 “You want massage, help you sleep.”

‘No!’ I said. ‘I was already asleep. Just stop ringing me.’ I was a bit grumpy. I get that way when I don’t get my sleep.

I tried to unplug the phone but it was attached at the wall. I couldn’t help thinking what kind of hotel has a ‘wake you up to help you sleep department’? Anyway after that they didn’t ring back.

The mattress was a bit hard and I missed my sofa bed, and my sister, but eventually I went to sleep.

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Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 1, Beijing here.

 

Read My Crazy China Trip - Day 3, The Forbidden City, here.

 

Tell me what you think.  Constructive comments welcome.

If you like the story share with it with your friends.

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There are plenty more stories on this site:

Beijing Private Eyes - Drama, Romance, Karaoke, Kidnap!   A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an attractive stranger and offers to help, then things get complicated. (A long story in 8 parts)

Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned.

Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma. (4 parts)

Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control. [Rated R]

Love at First Flight - A foreign teacher arrives in China and falls in love with a local, but the path of true love is anything but smooth. (5 parts)

 

Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:

NEWSFLASH - My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis".  You can read the other entries here.

A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).


Stories set in China:

Winds of Change –  In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.

Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.

Seeds of Time – (Sequel to Outside In). In 2055 rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object.

Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy

Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery.    (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)

Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?

Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century. 

  

Tell me what you think.  Constructive comments welcome.

If you like the story share with it with your friends.