Michael Morrissey:  

Walking the Wall, The Great Wall that is. Beijing, China 18 June 2008 Yesterday, I arrived in Beijing from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia where I have just crossed the county from Dalanzadgad to Huvsgul Tour. On Craig¿s List I found Steve Klein on Craig¿s List offering walking tours along less traveled portions of The Great Wall of China. We exchanged emails and phone calls while I was in Mongolia and agreed he would pick me up at my hotel at 7:00 on 18 June. The weather forecast was optimistic but in reality the weather could not have been worst. It was foggy, smoggy and after a two week odyssey bouncing around in an SUV across Mongolia I was groggy. It was not an ideal day for photography. As we drove 30 miles northeast of Beijing near the city of Miyun we became acquainted exchanging our stories of how we both ended up in Asia. Steve is a Canadian from British Colombia and is married to Rebecca, whom he met in BC. She is from Beijing. They have a four year son and moved here three years ago to give their son an opportunity experience both of his cultural heritages. The early morning drive through Beijing was quick as there was little traffic at this hour. We were soon on a new limited access six lane highway that was as modern as any highway in the world. Traffic was mostly all black cars, Buicks, large Volkswagen sedans and Audi¿s. How did Buck become the car of choice for the Chinese? As we drove out through the murk I wondered what affect the gloomy atmosphere will have on the Olympians. Steve mentioned the best months to visit Beijing are usually April and October when the skies are clear. Olympic athletes train for years only to have to compete in a pea soup atmosphere. Steve told me how lucky I was as the landscape is so lush now. It has rained more this year than it has in the past couple of years. He said it is normally very dusty but now the hills are covered in lush vegetation. Once we left the highway we climbed up the hill on a curving road past temporary bee hives. It seems the beekeepers transport their hires to open areas alongside the road and sell fresh honey from temporary stands. As we passed them I could see the bees swarming. How does that affect business? We passed through a simple wooden arch with ¿Shi Cheng¿ written on it and drove to the end of lane with a large parking lot. Until recently this had been an area where the locals had set up a makeshift tourist attraction. They had the rights to charge an admission and there were stalls set up to sell souvenirs. That all changed when the government enacted a law to protect the Wall and limit access. In 2002 the New York-based World Monuments Fund put the Great Wall on its list of the World's 100 Most Endangered Sites. As a result in 2003 Beijing announced its first regulations to protect the Great Wall in the capital area. Then last December the central government announced a new national law to protect the wall. It is now illegal to remove bricks or stones from the wall, carve names in the bricks, hold raves on the wall, or build a house against the wall. Also important, the law says that "all citizens, legal entities and organizations" are charged with protecting the wall and reporting illegal activity to government agencies. It is fine for individuals to hike in this area but not for busloads of tourists or commercial activity. After parking the car and deciding what to carry we headed off through a small residential area made of single story masonry buildings with gray tile roofs. There was a fair bit of renovation underway. We had to find our way through a couple of lanes until Steve located the trailhead. We began our walk at N 40o 32¿ 21.0¿ E116 o 48¿ 27.5¿ The trail was narrow with a compacted soil surface that passed through a series of fruit and nut trees orchids. Steve kept comment on how lush it was compared to the last time he hiked this area. We passed a couple of farmers...Expand for more