Before we left Auckland, K had again asked me if I had thought about trying to book a tour for Anna and I. K had visited China years earlier with Dean, but she thought Anna and I should see something. I quietly did some digging, e-mailed a well-reviewed company about a potential tour, and heard back immediately. They offered a tour of the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. They would meet us after clearing immigration, and give us a private tour, with a guarantee to get us back to the airport two hours before our connecting flight departed. They also said that if we were delayed or did not clear immigration in time, there was a no-cost cancellation process. With nothing to lose, I asked Anna if she wanted to go. She immediately said "yes," and then K said she, too, wanted to go. That secretly made me feel better. Originally, we'd talked of her going to the hotel while we went on the tour, but I much preferred that we did not split up. With that, I made the booking and we were told they'd be waiting for us at 6:00 am at, of all places, the Starbucks in the main terminal.
Right before our flight left Auckland, I received an e-mail from Air China, advising of a new "VIP" service, whereas they would meet us plane side and "facilitate" us through the visa and immigration process, and then to our hotel. This is the service I had been hoping for on the original flight, and now it came in after I had booked the tour. Many things had to fall into place before I could worry about conflicting plans, so I did nothing. The e-mail said that unless I wrote back and specifically said we did not want the VIP service, that someone would be waiting.
The flight was uneventful, and again we all took an Ambien after dinner, helping us sleep through the night. Though we arrived early, about 4:30 am, they were six hours behind Auckland, so our now-converted body clocks told us it was 10:30 am New Zealand time, so we were all rested and ready to go. We were among the first off the plane, and we could immediately tell we were back in winter. The jet bridge was freezing, we could see our breath, and the pilot had said it was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily, we had all kept our winter coats out. As promised, a woman was waiting for us at the end of the jet bridge. Her English was limited, but she whisked us down and deposited us into the visa line. The line was much longer this time, but we had our forms already filled out and ready to go -- I had grabbed extra blank forms the first time through. We were behind a large group of Swiss people, and again the sole officer working on transit visas was very slow. Our handler sat off to the side while we stood in the line. Given how many more people there were this time, I had already resigned myself that we would not make the tour, but there was nothing I could do.
As soon as we got the visas, our handler returned and whisked us ahead to the immigration queue. It was about three times as long as when we first came through, and many international flights had arrived by then. She motioned for us to get in line and then disappeared. We were in line a minute or two, having already discussed among ourselves whether we should just give up and go upstairs to the transit lounge, when our handler returned. She touched my arm and indicated for us to follow. We had to move ropes around to get back out, past at least dozen people who had since queued behind us. She walked us over to the Diplomatic line, pointed for us to go ahead, and stepped back. There was only one person ahead of us, and then I was called forward. The woman looked through my passport and paperwork, and then closed my passport, looked at the front, frowned, and then informed me that I was in the wrong line. I pointed to our handler and sheepishly explained that we were just following her instructions. The two women then got into a "hearty" discussion, none of which I could understand. Our handler bowed slightly, and then the woman stamped my passport for admission and called Anna and Katherine up in turn. We had cleared immigration in less than five minutes.
While I waited for Anna and K to clear, the woman tried to ask me something in English, but I did not understand. She then spoke Mandarin into her phone, and showed me the screen, where her words had been transcribed and translated into English. It read, "I will now bring you to the hotel." Looking at my watch, and realizing we would easily be able to meet our guide, I tried to explain that we did not want the hotel. She didn't understand, and instead held the phone to my mouth. I explained that we were meeting a guide and did not need the hotel. She read the translated words, smiled, shook my hand very firmly, and then walked away. If it had not been for her, I am certain we would have lost our opportunity to see anything in Beijing other than the Air China lounge.
As we were on the train to the main terminal, my phone rang. Our guide -- Robert (of course, not his real name) -- was asking if he had received our visa yet. When I explained that we had not only secured visas, but would be at Starbucks in a few minutes, he exclaimed, "Oh my. I will get there immediately." We arrived, had time to use the restrooms and even get Starbucks to go, and then he arrived.
Robert was to be our driver and guide. He saw that we had warm coats, but he said he had additional cold-weather gear in his van, if we wanted. He said they get a lot of folks transiting from Southeast Asia, and they show up in shorts, totally unprepared for the cold. When we got to the car, he explained that we had a choice of going to the Great Wall or to Tiananman Square. I explained that I thought we didn't have time to reach the Wall, so I had elected for the Forbidden City tour. He said we were early enough that we could do either, but added that it we would arrive before the Forbidden City opened for tourists, so we would be limited in what we could see. He then said he had access to a "special section" of the wall, where we could get us in, rather than the main tourist area, which didn't open until 9:00. We caucused, and all agreed that we simply had to see the Great Wall.
It was still pitch dark as we left the International Terminal. We drove about 15 minutes and then encountered another airport. Robert explained that we had not yet even left the airport complex, and that we'd only gone from the international to the domestic terminals. That told me how massive an airport it must be. On top of that, they just opened a second international airport in Beijing, bigger than the one we were in. Everything seemed so big, especially compared to tiny New Zealand.
Robert talked on and off about his life and things that we would see as we drove. It was, however, pitch black, and after we left the highway, we took short cuts through what he told us were wheat fields, orchards, and fish farms. We could not see anything. The sky started to lighten after we'd been in the car about an hour and 15 minutes. I was worrying about time, and getting back to the airport for our 11:20 am flight to Newark. He told us the name of section of wall we were to visit; I entered that into Waze on my phone, and it said we were still an hour away. If that held, there was no way we would make it. I kept quiet, and said that I would give him another 15 minutes before raising any questions or alarms. Almost as soon as I thought that, he announced that we were almost there, and then a view of the wall emerged. We drove into a very small town, and there was just enough daylight to make out buildings. We could, too, see that we'd been driving between hills on either side, and the ground was covered in snow in spots. All of a sudden, he slowed down, and then backed into a makeshift parking spot, directly below the wall, which sat about 150 yards above us. I later learned that the name for this part of the wall applies to a long area, and that there is an "approved" tourist area, where buses can go and where all the trinket sellers, etc., can set up shop. The approved areas was still about an hour away. He opened the back of the van and handed us each a ski-pole-like walking stick. I almost begged off on taking one, but was very glad I didn't. He immediately started up a long flight of modern stairs built into the side of the cliff. At the top, he greeted a woman who had a home at the top, and who has keys to a small gate. They exchanged words -- and probably money -- and then we were shepherded through a break a courtyard wall, and then it was another 100 yards or so of walking up on a rocky, switchback path to the wall itself. It was clearly not a path used by throngs of people, and our sticks saved us multiple times from slipping. At the time, we had to lift ourselves up through an opening in THE Wall. As we lifted ourselves up, we clearly saw the sign stating that this part of the wall is closed to tourists. So, in essence, it really was a "special" part of the wall.
 |
| Hiking Up to the Great Wall |
 |
| Yep...Totally Closed to Tourists |
The views from this section of the wall were spectacular, and we got to watch the sunrise from our new perch. Our amazement was compounded by the fact that we were alone up there, and we could see no one stirring in the village below us. There were not even any cars on this stretch of road. Anna and Robert started climbing further up the wall. K elected to stay back, and I started to follow. Once I started up, however, there were no sides on the wall, and much of it was sheer, without steps built in. I will admit that I had a brief episode of vertigo. I could go no further, and very gingerly walked myself back down, backwards, until I was back on the main section. Robert and Anna could have gone further, but luckily they returned.
 |
| Crawling Through an Entrance After the Hike Up |
 |
| Panorama of the Wall |
 |
| Anna and Robert Keep Walking Up |
Robert announced that we had to start back, so we commencing with retracing our steps. K and I were considerably slower on the way back, but we just took our time, not wanting to slip. We were both, too, cold by now, and our legs weren't as sure as on the way up. My phone said the temperature out here was 15 degrees. We were very glad to make it back to the car, which Robert had warmed up ahead of our return.
On the route back, we could see all the fields and orchards we had missed in the dark, driving in. Things looked much more modern and tidy than I would have expected. Traffic picked up as we neared the airport, with morning rush hour travelers, but Robert got us back to the terminal at precisely 9:10 am, ten minutes earlier than planned. We all agreed that it was an amazing experience, and that we would have really been disappointed had we not done it. Anna had already made it clear that she wants to return and see more of China.
We reversed our course and made it back through immigration, customs, and security screening, and had about 20 minutes in the lounge before it was time to board yet another plane. This one, too, boarded and departed early, which another welcome surprise during a day of multiple surprises.
 |
| Katherine and Anna Enjoy a Tea Ceremony in the Lounge |
 |
| Our Plane to Newark |
 |
| Somewhere Over Siberia |
No comments:
Post a Comment