The China Experience in Beijing: Day 3

On our third day, Tuesday, May 13 in Beijing, Ces and I woke up to a pleasant surprise.  The Hyatt Management apologized for having placed us in a standard, non-Regency Club room and transferred us to the Regency Club accommodation.  We just did not get a Regency room, the manager upgraded us to a five-room suite!  It pays to be a Regency Club member and a Hyatt Vacations Club owner.  Woo hoo!

Commercial:  Consider becoming a Regency Club member when you check into a Hyatt property and a Hyatt Vacations Club owner if  you travel a lot!  It's well worth it.  Give Hyatt a call.

We started the day with our usual sumptuous omplimentary breakfast of fried rice, pancit, eggs, bacon, dimsum, pastries, juices, etc...etc...etc.  Today, our guide Tom Zhang joined us for breakfast.  He's the same guy who guided us at the Forbidden City yesterday.  We contracted him to guide us to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, some 100 kilometers north of Beijing.

With spoiled thoughts, I watched Tom walk towards a parked limo in front of the hotel.  Wow, I quietly screamed...only to be frustrated when he moved past the limo and into a dilapidated, cubicle of a mini-mini-mini van!  Yikes!  Surprisingly, that sucker moved pretty well, although not necessarily comfortably!

Well, that's what I deserve for being KURIPOT (stingy).  I did not want to pay the $200 dollars for the both of us.  So, I accepted Tom's offer of $100 to take us to Mutianyu and be our all-day guide.

We saw some of the country side of China on our way to Mutianyu which was in the mountains.  Beautiful green vegetations and, again, flowers bloomed everywhere!  What a lovely, lovely sight to behold.

Paying for entrance, we opted not to pay for the cable car so we could save some money.  However, when we started the trek up to the Wall....egads, my tongue wagged in and out of my mouth like that of a dog's after several steps up the steep (was it 90 degrees?) climb to the Wall.

No!  No!  Forget saving money!  Ces quickly moved to a ticket booth a little further up.  (These guys must know that people would change their minds after a few steps and placed another cable car ticket booth ahead after the first one!)

Whew, vertigo or not, I welcomed the cable car ride.  So did Ces.  It was our first cable car (other than San Francisco) ever!

Even then, when we got out of the cable car, we still had a lot of climbing to do!  Man, oh, man!  I should have prepared for this trek and exercised and be fit for the climb up to and about the Wall!

Poor Tom must have thought of charging us more had he realized he had to help us pull ourselves up to those steps!  Ha ha ha ha. Advise: Be fit when you visit the Great Wall.

Unlike the famous and popular Badaling section of the Great Wall nearest Beijing, Mutianyu had only few tourists.  There was a lot of elbow room.  There was no one to block your view or your souvenir photo shots.

I allowed my imagination to go wild.  I saw the barbaric Mongolian hordes attacking and hacking themselves through the Wall only to be frustrated by the Imperial soldiers riding in horses and chariots and defending ably well in vantage points all through the more than 6,000 kilometer long Wall.  At night, the soldiers signaled with the use of fire; during the day, smoke.  A tower could spot the focus of the attack and reinforcement is delivered.

It was refreshing to reminisce through history and create my own virtual world of centuries old.

On our way down, we encountered a Mr. Miyagi type of a man in a Ming Warrior attire.  He was a posed for pictures for a 20 RMB fee (about $3).  I engaged him for a 10 RMB fee to karate joust with me.  He though it was funny and agreed.  So, the Mr. Miyagi vs. Mr. Miyagi battle started to the amusement of the locals and tourists.  I should have charged them a fee myself for watching our fight.

Naturally, the place was filled with souvenir stalls.  One dollah...one dollah...for this and for that.  The negotiating game begins again.  It's ridiculously funny to hear them offer a price for something and wind up selling it for whatever price you can or choose to afford.

Ces got herself two parasols, a mahjong set and a number of small things for "pasalubong."  I got two t-shirts with "I have climbed the great wall" markings in the front and with emblazoned dragons at the back, Beijing and Great Wall baseball caps, and a shock absorbing walking cane that really helped me with the climb.

We had a very nice lunch with Tom and the driver Lee at a wayside, farmland restaurant where we had to catch the fish we wanted to eat with a net from a cemented rectangular container.  The two that we picked wound up as a really crispy sweet and sour fish and the other, sashimi cutlets.

We wound up the trip with another shopping spree at the Silk Market where we went to yesterday.  Ces picked up more True Religion jeans and some fancy jewelries.  The Silk Market is famous for imitation products.

It was cute being dropped off and coming out of a dilapidated mini-van amidst limos and other classy cars at the hotel entrance.  You betcha, I tipped the valets and doormen, too, just like the classy car passengers.

Of course, I only dropped off a dullah to their probably tens or twenties...ha ha ha ha ha ha...

If we can get up after dinner and nap, we'll listen again to the Filipino singers at the lounge.

Oh, by the way, many of you asked about the earthquake.  We never felt it here in Beijing.  We're so sorry for the victims and have been saying a prayer for them.

Well, we're going on a tourist coach tomorrow for $20 each for a whole day trip to the Badaling section of the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. 

See you tomorrow night!