D3 - the Great Wall
The third day was the peak of the travel as we
would follow the trail of our ancient defender at the Great Wall.
There were 3 spots to enter the Great Wall around
Peking. I opted the MYT as apart from the Great Wall there is a Tobago ride. I
had an excellent experience at the Sentosa island many years ago with the Tobago.
MYT Great Wall had less visitor compare to the BDL Great Wall. The reason that I
had chosen Great Wall run on the Monday was that all of the tourist spot was
closed on Monday. It was a bad decision and lots of the tourist had done the
same thing. As it was pre-school holiday and I thought I would still be safe and
I was wrong. There were tons of families taking their children for early school
holiday trip.
The push off was smooth and we had reached the two
food joints as planned. One of them was named “Big lazy dragon”. Lazy dragon
was a nick name for meat wrap. We bought 6 which should be enough to supplement
our energy climbing the stairs. We stopped by a very small shop for breakfast.
The price was darn cheap and we were eating among the locals. I had gone to the
public toilet nearby and found that no door was installed in the toilet. It was
like 15 + years ago when my parents told me about the doorless toilet in the
kampung area when they visited mainland. Doorless toilet in Peking at this
modern age ?
The breakfast price reflected its quality;
cheap and nothing but cheap. Chain breakfast shop which was selling affordable
breakfast to the locals. We were sitting among laborers and students. The bao,
fried liver, meat loaf, soya was so so but yet it pacified your hungriness.
We were able to reach the gathering point on
time and successfully get onto the bus. We met a bunch of kurang ajar kids who
spilled their drink and hopped to another seat. Leaving us with one of the seats
with stain of drinks waiting for to clean up. Yes, they were still locals who
are rude, impolite and selfish. Although education had flourished over the years
there were still people who is still caring only about themselves. Long way to
go before it is considered as developed….
The journey took about 1.5 hours and at 9am we
had reached the base of the Great wall. The cable car queue was very long and
it took us 2.5hours wait before we reach the 5th tower at 11am. We
decided to skip the Tobago and ascended by foot to the 14th tower
where we would take another cable car back to the base.
The stairs were really not ergonomic and unfriendly.
We stopped by the 7th tower, while
we enjoyed the spectacular view, we walloped the lazy dragon and prepared for
the final ascent. Although it was early summer, the breeze and temperature was
darn relaxing.
It was crawling speed for Ving and me accompanying
the shortness of breath and leg soreness. How could the border guards tolerate
such walk up and down as their daily routine? However it was hell of an experience
to be part of the history…
Well, we landed back to the base at 3:30pm and we
had a good sleep on the bus and by 5pm, we were walking back to the apartment.
On our way back, we had stopped by one of the famous
Muslim firepot restaurant situated around the hotel. It was an expensive meal
though. The meat and mutton were excellent and the slicing method was one of
the signature features of the shabu-shabu.
Unlike the Japanese style shabu shabu which had
influenced most the shop around ghost island. The Peking style shabu shabu utilized
the old fire pot which was heated by charcoal. Just like the old fire pot that Malaysian
use. No broth was used and only plain water inside the pot. The dipping which
knowns as two eight source is a combination of sesame source and peanut butter
using the ratio of 20%:80%. Mutton was dipped in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes;
unlike the Japanese style shabu shabu where you dipped for seconds only.
A satisfied meal and we retreated to our apartment
before night fall.
All I had read from the net/book were materialized
in front of my eyes. I had completed the 2 major spots on the list.
It took me half a century to lay my foot on this land. It was so far away once…
The waiving of visa had brought the dream come
true. My last visit about 10 years ago was an initial RM2k visa fee and 2 weeks
of anxiety fearing the lost of passport while sending it to HKG for visa application.
Until now it was an amazing trip. While resting
on the sofa sipping the Artic Ocean orange soda and staring blindly at the night
scene; I thank the Great one for taking me all the way (with some hiccup of
coz, but yet I am still grateful)….
Source:
D3 - the Great Wall
