Camping on the Great Wall

Last Saturday I travelled to a beautiful and unrestored section of the Great Wall with ten

other interns. After a two-hour ride, one of which was spent standing still in Beijing’s traffic, we

arrived at a small village right by the trail leading to our campsite. We were invited for lunch at a

local family’s house, which was an interesting experience in and of itself. While we were sitting

outside, the women of the family and two of their little girls were preparing for a Chinese opera

show they were performing later that day. After the little girl finished taking pictures with each

and every one of us foreigners, we found ourselves watching the show with the entire village

(which is about 80 people). Needless to say everyone stopped watching the show and stared at us

for most of the time, as apparently foreigners don’t visit there frequently. They were all

extremely nice and hospitable, and despite the language barrier we could still communicate with

some of them. Just an hour before we were supposed to start hiking a mini-storm began, and it

was not long until we were soaked. Thinking we would need to cancel our trip, we all waited by

one of the houses in the village and started making plans for our rainy weekend in Beijing.

However, 30 minutes later, the sun came out and the sky cleared, reminding us of how

unpredictable things here could sometimes be. Led by a guide named Noodles (he refused to

admit it’s not his real name), we began walking up the trail to our campsite on the Great Wall.

The hike was extremely steep and tiring, and became even harder when our local guide did not

understand my attempts to ask for a short break in Chinese. Nevertheless, after about 40 minutes,

we could already see our destination on one of the mountain peaks. When we finally got there,

the view was absolutely mesmerizing.

We decided to walk to a peak about a mile away from our campsite on the unrestored

section of the wall. Every once in a while we would stop and look around, trying to capture these

moments in pictures, which turned out to be quite impossible. At one point we were all standing

still, realizing we haven’t experienced complete silence since we’ve arrived in Beijing. It was the

first time I could just sort out my thoughts and take a breath of (real) fresh air. We set up our

tents and built a fire while our guide was making dinner and telling us stories about the village

nearby that was assigned to build the section we were visiting, and later watched the sunset from

one of the most breathtaking viewpoints on the wall.

After that weekend, Beijing’s pace seemed even crazier. Our Mandarin class is becoming

more and more challenging, but I feel like I’m starting to understand small talks on the bus and

subway. I’ve managed to speak to a cab driver and even ask for directions (still couldn’t

understand his answer, but it still counts as progress). After class I also got to visit the Lama

Temple (twice), Beijing’s most beautiful Buddhist shrine. Besides the serenity and the eye-

catching ornaments on every one of the five halls, it is worth visiting for the 18m-tall statue of

the Maitreya Buddha. After bumping into a tourist that recognized my Israeli-brand of sandals

and started speaking Hebrew to me, my friend and I decided to keep exploring the various

hutongs in the area (narrow ancient streets). We found an adorable café, and became friends with

the waiter who was extremely eager to practice his English. He told us about his experience

teaching English in Taiwan, and then giggled at out attempts to use our not-so-vast knowledge of

Chinese vocabulary.

I already feel quite at home in Beijing and I can’t wait for this weekend when we will be

visiting the Summer Palace and begin planning our upcoming trip to Shanghai. Till next time,

zhoumo yu kuai!

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