To Finland and Beyond

The day started early, as we got on the tour bus at 7:15am. We were in the lobby on time, and were approached by the tour guide pretty quickly to get on our bus. Unfortunately, we then sat outside the hotel for another fifteen minutes, as we waited for another group to board the bus. This was the first indication, that the day was not going to go to plan.

We left our hotel 15 minutes late, and headed to Emily and Victoria's hotel to pick them up, on the way to the Ming Tombs and Great Wall. By the time everyone was on the bus, it was 8:00, and we made our way out of Beijing towards the Tomb's. Our guide spend about 30 minutes talking to us about living in Beijing, living in China, and the history of the Ming Tombs.

We got to the Ming tombs at about 9:00, and started the tour proper. As is customary at any Chinese attraction, we were heckled by hawkers trying to tell us all manner of cheap rubbish. Once inside, we made our way to the tomb itself. After the obligatory stories of who was buried there, and how many concubines (mistresses) joined him, we were let loose to explore the tomb.

The tomb was pretty unimpressive - sadly. To the many Chinese tourists there, I think it had a great deal of cultural meaning, but to the unitiated westerner, the connection we had was limited at best, and the architecture, no different to so much else that we had seen on our travels already, through Beijing.

WIth a sense of slight disappointment, we boarded the bus, and headed to our next stop - lunch. Though before we got any food, we would have to suffer through an exhibition of jade products, for 45 minutes. This was not ideal, but we tolerated it by sitting at the bar. The jade jewellery and ornaments were not our thing at all. Incredibly Chinese, funny enough, and there was absolutely no way we were going to buy anything.

The food was okay , when we finally came to eat it, though there were limited vegetarian options. And then at 12:00, it was time to get on the bus again, and head to the Great Wall. We went to a section of the wall called Badaling. As we got closer, the tour guide walked through the cabin to collect money to pay for the cost of a cable car to the top of the hills and the Great Wall that sat on top of the them. As we wanted to walk up, we declined the invitation, but were told that there was not enough time for us to walk to the top, before the bus left for Beijing, and we would have to pay the extra money for the cable car, if we were actually to walk on the wall. This didn't sit well at all. with us, with Emily and Victoria, or with the remainder of the bus. It was also an issue for Emily and Victoria, as they had insufficent money to pay for the cable car.

Much as credit card payment exists in China for some things, the Chinese stubbornly persist in requiring cash payment for many others. And to verify the identity of people making cash payment, you instead have to present some kind of ID. For us, it is our passports, which were collected by our tour guide and marched away, while she bought our tickets for us. In the western world, it would be entirely unaccpetable, but in China, it is par for the course.

After getting our tickets, for the cable cars, we queued to hop on, and head up the mountain. As various Chinese security guards shouted and manhandled people in the chaos, we were pushed into a gondola which sped up tye mountain at lightning fast speed, and in two minutes later found ourselves at the top of the mountain. From the gondola, it was a short walk to the wall, but when we arrived, there wasn't much of the wall to see. It was covered in people. Covered in people to the point that you couldn't walk freely, and had to shuffle. Covered in people to the point that it took ten minnutes to walk 100 metres.

The sheer number of people made the experience horrible. And then there was the smog. In a different place, you would have throught that the 'clouds' were just that, clouds. But this is China, and we were high enough to be inside the smog cloud that hovers over Beijing, all day, very day. This was another black mark against the experience. A very large, very black, mark.

Having suffered as much as we could of the environment on the Great Wall, we made our way down the mountain, very early, about 1 hr before the bus was due to leave. And all that greated us were more hawkers, trying to sell us their wares. There wasn''t a moments peace, and there was nothing pleasant about the experience at all.

After waiting for everyone to get back on the bus, we left at close to three. Very soon after, the bus groaned in extreme annoyance as we discoverd that we were not heading back to our hotels, after a deeply dissappointing day, but instead heading to some random foot massage parlour, to received a free foot massage. A free foot massage that no one wanted. As the bus told the guide that we didn't want the foot massage, we were told that we had to go to one other store. The bus responded "Why?". We had paid for a tour to the Ming Tombs and Great Wall, with a lunch included, nothing more. But no, buried deep in the fine print, and in no way made obvious, was the fact that we had purchased a shopping tour, not a 'private tour'. We were required to visit two shops. To the western population of the bus, this was highly deceitful. The bus sat stewing in anger for the next twenty minutes. You could hear a pin drop.

The bus would not be dropping off anyone at their hotel, until it had made a stop at another shop, though the shop was changed from a foot massage parlour, to a Chinese tea house. Annoyingly, the bus passed right passed Emily & Victoria's hotel on the way to the tea house. The bus passed within a block of our hotel too. When the bus eventually stopped at the tea house, half the bus disembarked and headed to the nearest metro. We were far from impressed.

Arriving back at the hotel, we thought that after our disapoointing day, we should relax for a bit. It was at this point, we got a call that out washing has been delivered to the hotel reception, and we should pick it up. We did so, only to discover that the washing delivered to us, was not ours, but someone elses. This was problematic. As there wasn't much time to sort the problem before we left for Vietnam. As we spoke to the concierge about whether the mix up happened in the hotel, or at the wahing company, we saw Sebastian, who had directed us to the company initially.

He was feeling a bit embarassed, that having directed us to the company, they had made a meal of things the first time out. He helped us out getting in contact with the company to sort the problem, and we then headed to the hotel restaurant for a quick meal before heading out to a bar to meet some of the train gang. Dinner was tasty, and quick, but as we were walking out through the lobby, the conceierge shouted over, as they had the laundry company on the line. Speaking to the company, they advised that the delivery driver would be there in the next ten minutes to try and sort out the mix up. That meant a trip back to the room, to get the random clothes that we had received, to take them down to reception.

On arrival back at reception, the driver was already there with five separate bags of clothing. After having a look through four of the bags, to ascertain that they weren't ours, we were not confident of finding our stuff in bag number five. Amazing we did find our stuff in the laundry bag of a person called Alex. Amazed, Courtney ran the clothes up to the room, before we headed out to drinks, which we were now running late for.

On the way, she had to suffer the very unwanted advances of two drunk Chinese men in the lift, who through mime and inneuendo, tried to speak to chat up Courtney. Things took a turn for the ugly, when the men followed Courtney off the lift, and began following her. Thanks to a number of turns in the hotel corridor, Courtney was able to make it back to the room, with the aid of some running out of fear, without the Chinese men seeing where she had gone. Had she not been able to get in the room , she would have hit a dead-end, and who knows what might have happened. After waiting in the room for five minutes to make sure her unwanted admirers had dissappeared, Courtney the hot mess arrived in the hotel lobby, to head to drinks.

The drinks were good, and for Courtney, a bit stronger than usual. It was nice to catch up with the train gang, and say goodbye to them. Maybe we'll see them again - maybe we won't. We are dispersing across the world, and no one knows where we might all end up.

Another day of adventure over.Leer más