The BeiJing Blues..

The Magnificent Wall

I was in Beijing recently on a business trip..Now being there and even being short of time, i was simply tempted to visit the Great Wall...The decision was made at 8:00 pm on a Friday,and i asked my Chinese friend to help me out..

He called up many tour agents but seemingly all of them had closed down..We asked the hotel guys,even they didn't have any suitable arrangements.Finally we managed to find a small-time tour agent who fixed me up with an all - Chinese tourist group with a no-English speaking guide..That meant i was going to be alone,with sign language and broad smiles..to my rescue..

Woke up at 4:30 am with bleary eyes,after staying up late till 2:00 am,watching a Hollywood movie starring Orlando Bloom,in which he enacted the role of a failed Shoe R&D guy(i don't remember the name of the movie.),and Kirsten Dunst(she looked really pretty) plays the role of an air hostess.

The pickup time was 5:00 am...

Slept on the Bus.After a supposedly scenic drive(which was lost in sleep)..Reached the Great wall..Couldn't make out a single word that the tourist guide was saying..so just roamed around on my own..from whatever little i could understand the guide asked me to come back to the bus by 9:30 AM..

They had a trolley car system to get you from the base(where the buses were parked)..to the wall..

The weather was cool..the Wall itself was an amazing structure,the architecture was splendid and off course it was strong enough to have endured thousands of years..there seemed to be no end..it just went on & on..and i had my music with me...What more could i ask for..

After finishing the Great wall tour,the bus took us to the Emperor Ming's tomb..followed by the Museum of the Ming dynasty..Both were places of historical significance..and the tourist guide's commentary had every1 nodding their heads...and i was just trying to figure out things on my own...

The bus retunrned back to the hotel by 6:00 pm.It was raining heavily and i had to catch a train to Shanghai..That night on the train i was thinking..if only i could visit the 7 wonders in my lifetime...2 i had ...5 more to go..