Tuesday, May 6, 2008The Great Wall, Mutianu
After an hour and a half drive through the countryside on twisting two lane roads (at lickety-split speed), we arrived at the foot of Mutianu, the section of the Wall I wanted to see. Unlike the closer and more frequented Badaling section, this one’s a lot quieter with far fewer tourists to clamor over.
You start the process by climbing steep (and I do mean steep) steps and ramps though fruit stands and souvenir stalls to get to the cable cars that take you the rest of the way. Admittedly, we had to stop a couple of times during our climb, just to breathe. One poor couple ahead of us simply halted half way up, with her unable to scale another step. It’s a workout.
So, we make it to the cable car building, find ourselves alone on the platform (like I said, not nearly as populated as Badaling), are shown to a car, hop in...and start giggling.
There, on the glass directly ahead of us, are the words:
“President William J. Clinton took this car down the Great Wall on June 28th, 1998”
Cool beans, baby. Cool beans.
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