Another brick in the Wall

One of the first things I did after coming to China was visit the Great Wall. Like most tourists, we went to the section of the wall called Badaling (八达岭). As you can see if you look at my old post, it was pretty crowded there and pretty commercialized. So this year when my sister and nephew came to visit, I wanted to show them something different – as well as giving myself a new experience instead of a repeat.

In my guide book, Simatai (司马台) was described as being less visited, less restored, and less crowded, which fit the bill perfectly. Of course, being all those things, it’s a little more of a challenge to get there. Luckily, I have some good friends who are locals and willing to help out. One of my friends told me that she saw a tour bus in the neighborhood, near the Sanlitun Youth Hostel, that said Bus to Jinshanling and Simatai the Great Wall on its side. She even wrote down the phone number on the bus. It turned out I had to arrange the trip through the youth hostel – the tour company won’t take bookings directly. So I went into the hostel and handed over a bunch of cash, signing up for the next morning (April 10).

We had to be there at 6:30, and the tour included breakfast on the road and a buffet lunch. All for Ұ260 (about US$38) per person, and actual entry tickets to the Great Wall were not included.

The “breakfast” was a pretty unappealing sandwich with some sweetened fruit juice. Really wish I’d taken the time to eat something beforehand. The bus ride was a total of about two and a half hours, with a stop at Miyun (密云) for gas, beverages and snacks – though the gas station had a pretty pitiful selection. I got a bottled coffee drink to wake myself up.

Miyun is a town in the Beijing Municipality and sees itself as the gateway to the Great Wall, so they use its image to decorate the town.
That’s a roundabout in the middle of town, not the real Wall.

After Miyun we headed into higher country.
We passed a little way into Hebei (河北) Province to a place called Jinshanling (金山岭), which basically means Gold Mountain. There is not gold in these here hills – it gets the name for the color of the trees in fall or something.
This section of the Wall was first built in 1368 and restored in 1567; parts of it have been restored more recently, though as you will see, certainly not all of it. And yes, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entrance ticket to this area is Ұ50.

The bus dropped us off here, and the guide gave us instructions on how to manage the ten kilometer walk to Simatai, where the bus would pick us up in about four and a half hours. No pressure.
The day was clear but hazy, so visibility was pretty good although the sky was generally not blue.
Note the relative – nay, complete – lack of tourists. This particular bit is obviously restored and in very good shape.
The start of the journey features some climbs which seemed a bit steep at the time. Little did we know what lay ahead of us.

As you go along, the state of the Wall deteriorates.
Note that the next guard tower in line is pretty far gone.
And past that is a section that you can barely walk on.
Note the lovely trees in bloom – I’m pretty sure they’re cherries. It was springtime, and things were starting to look alive.
The trend of steeper and more deteriorated continued.
Not long past this point there was a sign to inform us that we were entering the Simatai section of the Great Wall. This area costs Ұ40 to get in. There was a sign that said it was the ticket office of Simatai Great Wall, but there was no one there. At one point a woman was just walking along and checking our tickets.

There was a rather inconspicuous arrow pointing us around this tower.
Seems obvious that the path does not go through it, but many people tried, climbing up inside only to find out the other side was even less accessible.
We walked around it.

Here’s a picture that gives you a good idea what Simatai is like.
You can see that parts of the Wall are only a few feet high along here. And look at the ridge in the distance. See how the Wall continues up it?
That’s an area where it’s not very high.

As you walk along, you can see that aside from tourism, the local economy also includes agriculture.
Those are terraced corn fields. All along the Wall, we met up with locals trying to supplement their income by selling water, cola, beer, postcards, or guidebooks or (for the ones that spoke more English) offering their services as guides.

Between where the previous pictures were taken and the steep ridge in the distance is a river.
You have to cross a narrow suspension bridge (for an extra Ұ5) to cross it – not that you have a choice.
It’s a pretty steep descent to the bridge.
That’s another Great Wall ticket office. There’s actually a guy sitting on a folding chair at the other side. And that’s my sister and nephew not being exhausted.

From the other side looking back:
There’s a big sign near the Simatai parking lot to introduce the area. “Simatai Great Wall is most famous for its five characteristics: precipitous, dense, ingenious, peculiar and comprehensive...it is the only section that still keeps the original appearance of the Ming-dynasty Great Wall.” It also describes the “rope bridge” as looking like a “magnificent rainbow” – sure.

As tour members straggled in at Simatai, a minibus took them to a nearby restaurant for a buffet lunch. As it was after 2:00 and we’d had virtually nothing for breakfast and had just hiked 10k over rough terrain, to say we were starving would be an understatement. The food was tolerable, a selection of the most common Chinese dishes: gongbaojiding (kung pao chicken), tomatoes with scrambled eggs, and so on with steamed rice. Beverages were extra.

Outside the restaurant, there were ears of corn hanging on trees to dry. Though given that it was only April, this must be last year’s crop.
The trip back into Beijing took a lot longer than the trip out. Why? You might ask. Here’s why:
A bit after we passed the airport, we hit rush hour traffic. It was like this for something like two hours covering what should have taken 30 minutes or so.

I’m worn out now just from writing about it. But what a day!

Buddha is really big in these parts

During four days in Sichuan, about 3000 years of history can easily be witnessed, if not completely absorbed. Remains of cities dating to 1000BCE can be seen within the city; it is the birthplace of Taoism, and has long been important to Buddhists as well, with many sacred sites and spectacular temples.

Several of the main attractions in the area are located a couple hours southwest of Chengdu by bus, near the city of Leshan (乐山 or Happy Mountain, though “happy” in Chinese doesn't sound so frivolous as it does in English). The bus ride takes you through a vast agricultural area, a patchwork of flooded rice paddies and other crops, some of which I've probably eaten but didn't recognize.
You can occasionally see water buffalo in the fields helping with the work. This kind of farming does not lend itself to massive mechanization, requiring instead large amounts of muscle power from humans and animals.

Leshan is home to a bit over a half million people, pretty small by Chinese standards, but only a little smaller than Seattle. There are very few high-rise buildings, but the usual assortment of fashionable stores can be seen on the mostly narrow streets. It sits at the confluence of three rivers, and in ancient times the currents near here could be pretty treacherous. So in the year 719 a monk named Haitong devised a plan to carving a great homage to Buddha out of the cliffside in hopes of calming the waters.

Construction took ninety years, and Haitong did not live to witness its completion, but it did indeed calm the waters, probably due to the huge amount of rock cut from the cliff and dumped into the river.

This Buddha, called 大佛 (Dafo), which simply means “big Buddha”, stands 71 meters (233 feet) tall. In English, the name is rendered sometimes as Giant Buddha and sometimes as Great Buddha. No matter what you call it, it is pretty amazing, quite worthy of its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

To see the whole thing, you have to take a boat on the river for ¥50.
The boat will cruise past the statue, turn around, and then pause for several minutes right in front of it for photos. If you want, there's a photographer on board who will for a fee take “professional” pictures of you with the Buddha in the background.
From here you can see the long zigzag stairway that goes from the top of the cliff to Buddha's feet, and the roundabout path on the other side to return (though not in the same picture).

To get from the boat dock to the Buddha, you can take a taxi or ride a city bus. The bus gives you a really interesting view of some really interesting parts of town you wouldn't normally see (and the local tourism committee probably wishes you wouldn't).

As is usual for attractions in China, there are a variety of ticket options available, and the descriptions on the sign are only meaningful if you already know what is there. We opted for the full package for ¥120 each, figuring it would get us into everything we could possibly want.

From the park entrance you start up the hill and pass a number of interesting things, such as the White Tiger Lair.
There is a sign with a legend about a dragon and a white tiger, and they also have a dragon carved wrapped around a little pond nearby.

You go up a bunch of stairs...
...to find yourself at a temple complex.
There's a bunch of renovation going on, and it's very crowded between the construction fences with all the people lighting their incense and so on.

At the top of the hill there is an old pagoda that doesn't seem to get much attention.
Well, since you're here, you can't really choose not to go down to Buddha's feet. You start out level with his head.
At the top you can look down.
Yes, it's a long way down.

This is what it looks like about halfway down:
And near the bottom you get a good look at the massive feet.
When you get to the bottom and look up, this is what you see:
When you go out the other side and climb the stairs back up the cliff, it gets kind of confusing. We entered a separately ticketed area which was covered by our everything passes. We walked a long way along a path and saw something kind of curious.
As some kind of good luck charm or something, people wedge sticks into every possible crevice. I don't know the significance of this.

Eventually you get to the cave of the Thousand Arm Guanyin
This is followed by a whole bunch of carved Buddhas, all replicas of famous shrines around Asia, including some from Japan and India.
In English, the name is something like The Asian Buddha Theme Park, but it doesn't seem to have any rides. I think it would be great if if did. Imagine learning some of the famous stories in 3D seen from a hurtling roller coaster!
If you noticed that's not Buddha, give yourself a gold star. It's Shiva, in a replica of a famous statue in India. It may be a Buddha Park, but they're not too strict about what is allowed.

After returning from the Buddha Park to the main park area, we wandered around trying to figure out how to get to something new. The maps were very confusing, and there was no clear best path. We saw a few more temples and ended up at the main exit.

We hopped back on the #13 bus and rode past one of the things we had tried to find in the park, a famous bridge.

Notes on getting around: There is a frequent bus between the New South Gate Station (新南门站 Xinnanmen Zhan) in Chengdu and Leshan for ¥43. Leshan city bus 13 will take you to the dock where you can get on the boat (there are several different companies offering what seems to be the same service for ¥50). After you get off the boat, route 13 will also continue on to the Great Buddha. The Leshan city buses are kind of run-down compared to the Beijing buses I've ridden, but they offer a great inexpensive (¥1) way to see a bit of the city as you ride around the streets. When you leave the Great Buddha park, cross the street and catch the 13 bus back into town – it will take you right to the bus station. I do not recommend buying the added ticket to the Asia Buddha Theme Park unless you really want to see a bunch of replica statues.

Happy Niu Year, part 3

When it comes to temples devoted to springtime offerings in hope of a good year to come, the Temple of Heaven is the big daddy, so it makes sense that something would be happening there during Spring Festival. Yesterday a Chinese friend sent me a text message advising me that they have performances of some kind at 10:00 and 13:00. 10:00 seemed a little too early for a holiday morning, so I opted for the afternoon show.

Tiantan (天坛) was decorated with colorful banners, and there were lots of people dancing in the open areas.
The main temple itself looks as impressive as ever.
Lots of people everywhere, including the altar mound.
At a bit after one I made my way back toward the main temple, not completely sure where the show was taking place. The central part of the path was roped off and a crowd was gathering. I joined them, early enough to get a good viewing position.
After a while, we started to see colorful banners making their way down from the temple area.
The crowd gathered closer, and I, not being quite so pushy or rude as many others, found myself shoved further from the security line and close pressed on all sides. I felt sorry for the two tiny old ladies near me that suddenly found themselves with views of nothing but the backs of taller young people who squeezed in front of them. I considered what my Chinese vocabulary would enable me to say if anyone should apologize (like “I expect this kind of rudeness”), but the situation never arose.
Music started playing over the loudspeakers, and there was some kind of narration in Chinese that I could make out very little of aside from the frequent use of the word 皇帝 huangdi (emperor).
I have lots of pictures that feature parts of people’s heads in the foreground.
The guy in the modern style red coat was directing the performers from so close that he became an anachronistic part of the show.

As the procession made its way slowly closer, the police started moving people in my area to the sides. There was much confusion and shoving as the security line was moved so the performers could pass through the area where we had been standing.
Well, at least it allowed me to get some closer pictures as they marched past.
There were many groups of men in different costumes.
Many different kinds of banners went by.
And then it was done, and the crowd that had seen the part of the show up in the main temple area started flooding the thoroughfare.
I suspect I probably missed the most interesting part of the whole show, but still it was nice to see.

After that, I wanted something a on little smaller scale, so I made my way to Dongyue (东岳) temple, which is not far from where I live. I’ve visited this place before, not long after I first came to Beijing. You can check out those pictures to see what it looks like on a normal day.

There were a bunch of vendors with tents set up outside the temple entrance.
This guy has a wide variety of dried fruits and nuts.
This guy was using a big mallet to mash something (probably rice) into a treat.
And this guy was selling completely legitimate (of course!) DVDs and games.

I paid my ¥10 and went in.
The place was decked out in red, and there were also people selling things inside. Dongyue is no longer really a functioning religious site – it’s officially a “cultural museum” now – but people still make offerings of incense and prayer ribbons.
You can also have a go at the old-fashioned grinding wheel.
Or more modern activities...
Here is the official slogan for the occasion:
Inheriting Folk Culture – Promoting National Spirits

And here I finally found one of the other attractions of a Chinese festival.
I finally got my yang rou chuanr (羊肉串 mutton on a stick). Add some sweet potato chips, and I was a happy festival-goer. Tired too.