Despite our ship being delayed nearly an entire day, my plans for China thankfully were unchanged save for a dinner that was missed by our delayed arrival to Beijing.
I chose to partake in a 5 day field program put on by Semester At Sea even though I could have done it on my own. We were flown from Shanghai to Beijing and got to hike about 16 miles of the Great Wall, so I would say it was well worth it.
Our hotel the first two nights was located in an area of Beijing known as Watertown, to us at least, and it was definitely the nicest I have ever stayed in. We went to bed pretty soon after we got in, as it was about 2 am and we had the main duration of our hike the next day.
The morning that we started hiking, I was a little nervous of a Table Mountain repeat of bad weather or that it would simply be more than I had expected. That could not have been less of the case. We hiked about 12 miles, and it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world but it was also extremely cool to be walking around broken, un-reconstructed sections of the wall. I felt like I was actually walking on history.
I had so many times where I stopped, not for a break per say but to just take it all in. The fact that we were actually hiking on the Great Wall of China in a section that no tourists were on that had clearly served as a legitimate border to Mongolia at one point in history was unreal.
I had expected that, in a way, this would be comparable with the Taj Mahal or being on Table Mountain or in Halong Bay, as other wonders of the world or nature. I was so wrong.
Maybe it’s because I have been seeing pictures and hearing about the Great Wall since at least first grade, but it just felt so incredibly different than any of my other amazing experiences. Maybe it was the sheer size of the thing, being able to see it for miles on end. Maybe it was the way that it felt to hike the older part the first day, then a reconstructed part the next that let me see the difference. Maybe it was a combination of it all, who knows. I just know that it was beyond description to be there in that place, and I do not think it has hit me fully yet, even a couple weeks later.
That night, we tried to go to the hotel hot tub, which took about half an hour (no kidding) because we kept getting lost in the identical cube-shaped hallways that seemed to intertwine across the hotel. When we finally found the pool/spa area, the hot tub was empty so we said screw it and put on our bathing suits and used the giant bath tub we had as a hot tub instead. (When in China, I guess?)
Our second day was spent on the part that was more popular with the masses, as it was reconstructed and the part that hadn’t been redone was only 400 years old as opposed to the much older section from our first leg of the hike. There were a few moments on the unreconstructed portion where I thought that I might legitimately fall off the wall because of how steep it was to climb, which was not helped by the fact that I (like the perfect daughter/sister I so obviously am) was video calling my family. Although it wouldn’t be the worst way to go, cool story and all that, I was not quite set on plunging to my death before I even exit my teenage years.
We spent less of the day hiking because we were set to go to a tea tasting before riding through the city on Rickshaws and visiting a local house for a demonstration on how to make traditional dumplings which was, of course, followed by an amazing dinner.
We switched to our second hotel that night, which was much more centrally located in the business district of Beijing. I had planned to go out but instead I fell asleep on top of my covers around 9 pm, only to wake up in the middle of the night to shower before sleeping again. Super crazy stuff, I know.
The third day in Beijing was a good one, we got to visit the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, and which were incredible. At lunch, there were at least three other groups from SAS programs in the area, and I ran into Jenna and Steven. It seems like 3 days isn’t that long, but time just literally doesn’t work right here, so I was so excited to see them after doing so much the previous few days. The afternoon was set aside to visit the Summer Palace, an incredibly intricate and stunning place. We had ‘duck dinner’ at a nice restaurant before everyone split up again. As one would expect, I had to go to a market to buy fakes because, again, when in China. $200 and a lot of clothes later, I definitely got what I came for. Jenna and Steven were on another program that stayed at my hotel that night, so we got to hang out which I didn’t expect. Who needs to go out when you can have a wine night in the hotel room where everyone just spills all the tea they have about people?
Our last morning in Beijing consisted of visiting the Temple of Heaven, outside of which there was a huge outdoor playground meant for older people to stay fit. The mount of acrobatic-like activities I saw men that had to have been in at least their 80’s doing was insane. Their health is something they clearly prioritize, and it was really cool to see how seriously they took it while having fun, as well.
By the time we got back to Shanghai, it was late afternoon, so my experience of the city consists mostly of going to the nicest club I’ve ever been to for my roommate Lauren’s birthday. Someone we know met a promoter so everyone who came with the password got in for free and they had people making drinks for us all night. There was consistently smoke and lights and confetti raining down on us next these huge glowing shark tanks and the best music. It took a long time to leave because we all just wanted to keep dancing, but when we finally got outside we saw a playground. Which we of course played on until our Ubers arrived. Hanna was doing flips, gymnast that she is, and our friend Max wanted to try. Naturally, Dragosh was taking a video of everyone as he does so often, and suddenly in the background you just see Max fall straight on his head in a sickening fashion. He made it out with a concussion and a good story, but I’m pretty sure everyone on the ship has the video now.
By the time we got back and actually went to bed, I slept for a good 45 minutes before my field class on the last day in China. If Dragosh hadn’t let me sleep in his extra bed in his room that gets painfully light in the morning, or not literally made me go to breakfast I probably would have been in trouble. Thankfully it was with Kaichi for Religions of the East, who reminds me of a younger, Chinese, slightly clueless version of my dad, and we essentially just explored cool temples and museums all day.
China was such a great time, and six days felt like forever with all we did but I could have stayed for months longer, like everywhere else we’ve been. I could never forget the lights of Shanghai that surrounded our ship in hands down the best docking location of the voyage, it was like I was dreaming up a crazy utopia but it was somehow real and in front of me.
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