Permission to Leave

It’s official. I am now allowed to leave China since I have climbed the Great Wall.

For the International Labor Day holiday (May 1), a couple friends and I made our way to Beijing. Let me just say – I know Chengdu is polluted, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Beijing. I read in my Lonely Planet that breathing the Beijing air is the equivalent of smoking seventy packs of cigarettes – a day. The plane landed in a haze of smog so thick that despite the cloudless day, nary a shadow was to be seen. Also, when you blow your nose in Beijing, it comes out black. The same is true in Chengdu, but the particular shade of black is less striking.

Although the city is putting a huge amount of effort (and expense) into cleaning Beijing up for the Olympics, there’s no way they’ll actually have clean air. I’m very curious to see if the pollution will affect the athletes’ performance and if the Chinese athletes will fare better since they’re more used to it. I’m also interested in whether Chinese athletes perform better than average when they’re in other countries.

Anyway, that aside, we only had a few days, so we pared down what we wanted to see to a handful of the most famous sites. That is, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. I was a bit disappointed in the Temple of Heaven since it was impossible to get a good look at anything. There was no interior lighting and you weren’t even allowed inside any of the buildings (which is a shame, since the ceiling of the Harvest Temple is what everyone goes to see).

The Great Wall was everything I imagined it could be – except for the weather. Again, the smog was so intense that the sun didn’t seem to make it down. I found out later, however, much to my dismay, that smog does not block out UV rays. So even though I couldn’t see the sun, I still got a sunburn from it. Bah.

The Forbidden City was quite an adventure, with weather to match. That day we rose plenty early so we would have the whole day to explore. Tiananmen Square is attached to the Forbidden City (which, by the way, is where the emperors lived), so that was our first stop. As we crossed the street to the Forbidden City, though, one ominous roll of thunder sounded from the clouds above. Aware that we were about to be caught in a deluge, Traci, Shay, and I made a quick purchase of cheap ponchos. We made our way to the ticket booth, and I kid you not, when we turned around, it looked like the middle of the night. Clearly we were in for a nasty storm.

As soon as we crossed the threshold into the actual city, the rain started. And oh, did it rain. Regardless of the precautions we took, we were all soon soaked through. It didn’t help that the ponchos were even more cheaply made than what we bargained down to. My bottom button wouldn’t stay buttoned, so I had to hold it with my hand. On top of that, I very quickly developed a large hole all the way down my arm – Traci had to tie the plastic in a knot so that my clothes didn’t get totally soaked. But still, every time I took a step, water squished out of my shoes. My hair was so wet it looked as though I’d just stepped out of the shower (and yes, I did have a hood).

Eventually the rain abated, so we were actually able to explore a bit. But almost immediately the temperature dropped about twenty degrees and the wind started blowing so hard that it buffeted and pushed us along on our way. And then it started to rain again. We ended up cutting our visit short so that we could throw our shoes in the dryer (and prevent ending up with hypothermia).

Our last few hours in Beijing were spent at the Summer Palace, when we were actually blessed with the first nice weather we’d seen in Beijing. The sun shone, the sky was blue, and the heat was delicious. Mostly as a result of the favorable weather (finally), the Summer Palace was our favorite place we visited.

In conclusion, I like Chengdu better. The food is better and the pollution is less intense. On the other hand, it was nice to actually understand what people were saying for once (by way of an explanation, the dialect spoken in Beijing is considered the standard, and it’s what all foreign students learn).

Chairman Mao once said, “You are not a real man until you’ve climbed the Great Wall.” At least I can rest easy now, knowing that I am indeed a real man.

Photos:










1. The Temple of Heaven, the outside of the Harvest Temple

2. Did I not tell you it was as dark as night? This was taken at about ten in the morning.

3. The Forbidden City

4. The largest rock carving in... some area... not really sure. Anyway, the steps were beautiful and that huge rock carving got rolled halfway across China (remember: no cars).

5-7. The Great Wall of China!

8-9. The Summer Palace