The Wild Wall of The Great Wall of China

When most think of China, The Great Wall is one of the first things that comes to mind. After all, the Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. However, most don’t realize that the Great Wall is about 5,500 miles long and was built by different Chinese Dynasties over time to keep out the Mongols. Most are only familiar with Badaling, a part of the great wall that is almost completely restored and is the popular tourist section of the wall. Badaling is the part of the wall that is in majority of the pictures of the Great Wall; therefore most are only familiar with this part of the wall.

I expected to spend the day at Badaling fighting to get around hundreds of tourists and struggling to take a good picture. Fortunately, I was completely wrong and instead we went on a wild journey on the Great Wall. We were picked up at our hotel around 6:30 in the morning and drove to the village along the Ming part of the wall, or called the Wild Wall, named after our guide William Lindesay or Wild Will. On the bus to his village, he gave us a detailed history of the Great Wall and about his life. Wild Will fell in love with the Great Wall early in life and when the time was right, he moved to China. He walked the whole Great Wall once in the late 1980’s and wrote several books about the wall and has a TV program coming out about the Great Wall that airs April 30^th on National Geographic.

After eating a quick breakfast at Wild Wall’s lodge, we began our 6-mile hike along the Wild Wall, which is named after Will. We hiked through the snow covered woods stopping every once in a Will to take in the scenery and listen to what Wild Will had to say about the wall. Eventually, we made it to the actual wall and out of the woods. The Wild Wall is not artificial like Badaling; it is truly genuine. The wall has not been restored so it is in its natural state and it is not over flowing with tourists. When hiking the Wild Wall you need to be cautious and aware of your surroundings, because it has not been restored the rocks are loose and it is easy to slip or trip.

Overall, we spent about half a day hiking the Wild Wall and then we enjoyed some of the best dumplings I have ever tasted at Will’s lodge. After a long day, nearly all of us Mojo’ers were sound asleep on the bus ride back to Beijing. It was truly amazing to see an authentic part of the Great Wall and a wonder of the world. Here is the link to Wild Will's website.

China's Black Market

Around the world, products are stamped with ‘Made in China’ more than any other country. China produces literally everything, and for cheap. In China, the production of fake goods makes a great business for street vendors and for little shops in downtown Beijing and Wuhan, and the rest of China as well. China is very good at making fake goods that like authentic. There are so many companies that have production in China, which is why it is so easy for the Chinese to make counterfeits. Peter Hessler, author of Oracle Bones, calls these fake goods, “Jiade,” which means fake or garbage. Some of the goods stolen on the street are also stolen goods and may in fact be real brand name products, but this is rare.
There is an abundance of fake goods and nearly 70% of the products on the street are fake. Since China was able to make replicas so well they decided to make fake BMW’s. But when China joined the World Trade Organization, they were forced to cut back on making so many jiade products and then the Fake BMW’s became a Chinese brand of cars. The car styles remained the same and they still look identical to BMW’s. The government is still trying to cut back the production of fake goods because it costs legitimate businesses billions of dollars yearly.
Nonetheless, fake goods are still very popular in Chinese cities, and even the rest of the country. In Wuhan and Beijing I experienced the finest of China’s black market. I was constantly approached by street vendors trying to get me to follow them to their sketchy so called store so they could try to sell me fake Rolex’s and fake Nike shoes. The street vendors are like hawks; they are relentless, persistent and very annoying. They rarely ever speak English and never take no for an answer, if they understand no that is. Whenever approached I would repeat the Chinese phrase “Bu Hao,” which means bad, to get my point across that I was not interested. But the street gawkers will still continue to follow you and speak Mandarin behind your back knowing that you do not understand until they eventually decide to give up. These street vendors in China make the ones in New York look like a joke.
Although the street vendors and the fake and stolen goods are in fact sketchy, I did go to several stores with vendors to see what they had. In Wuhan I decided to buy my first fake Rolex for 100 RNB, or $15 USD. At first the man said 100 RNB but after communicating and haggling through a calculator we settled at 100 RNB. Haggling is a part of exchange in China; the sellers over price their goods on purpose expecting to lower them after bargaining with consumers. A standard rule is that you should never pay anywhere near the real value of that product, here is a bargaining guide. Anyway, even after buying the Rolex the man would not leave me alone and continued asking me if I wanted shoes but instead I bought a Kappa sweater from him for about $10. The sweater came with several Kappa tags so it very well be stolen or just a very good counterfeit. In Beijing I continued to bargain with street vendors and bought five more fake Rolexes, but this time I paid 120 RNB for all five opposed to the 100 RNB for one like I paid in Beijing.

(A picture from my Camera of Justin, Me, and Max with out fake goods)

Real Chinese Food

Prior to my arrival and first authentic Chinese meal, I was expecting to eat general tso’s chicken with rice and a fortune cookie for a week straight. I thought the food was going to be similar to the Chinese American cuisine that I am used to eating but I was sadly mistaken. I never realized that Chinese food is actually very exotic. Each meal has an equal balance of meats, vegetables, fruits, and grain and smells like sesame. Unfortunately for me, each meal also has a lot of fish. Most meals also had a lot of pork as well as many exotic fruits and vegetables that I never heard of, like the lotus root. And every meal was eaten in chopsticks, of course.
At every meal the servers would bring out many different dishes and put them on a spinning dish at the center of the table and fill up our cups with tea. The spinning dish would soon be over flowing with all different types of meats and vegetable dishes. The Chinese are eating machines it seemed like and they expected us to keep up so they kept bringing out dish after dish. They served different types of pork, whole chickens, many different types of fish, dumplings, tofu, many exotic vegetables, different types of vegetable and/or meat soups, as well as rice. Each meal had its own different exotic foods. Apparently, China has the most vegetables in the world. I can recall several fish dishes that did not look too appealing to me, like pig’s blood soup, seaweed, and other dishes that I did not even know the names. All of which, smelled like sesame. The one thing each meal was lacking was cheese.
On the streets I saw the most exotic foods yet: chicken feet, pig’s heads and ears, and the list goes on. After experiencing authentic Chinese food, I quickly realized how exotic the cuisine really was and American Chinese food is nonexistent in china.
I was not as brave as other China Mojoers and did not try anything that didn't look appealing to me. Fortunately, in Beijing there were many American fast food alternatives, and even a McDonald’s within walking distance from our hotel that had a pointing menu ready for tourists.

( A video from Youtube and the Travel Channel of China's Exotic Food )

Driving In China; Wuhan And Beijing

In China I witnessed the craziest and worst driving I have ever seen. The drivers in China make New York drivers look patient and cautious and drivers in Peru, where there is no test for a license, look experienced. The roads overflow with drivers, motorcyclists, and bicyclists that are all what I like to call kamikaze drivers. Drivers do not pay attention to the markings on the road, or the road signs, or even other cars or people.
Surprisingly, I did not witness any car accidents, but after doing some research I learned that there are around 800,000 car accidents a year. What is even more shocking is that I did not see one ambulance or fire truck either just an abundance of police cars but never saw anyone pulled over. I did see a police car beep at a car several times until the car switched lanes so the officer could pass.
Drivers in China drive as if there are no traffic laws and rely heavily on their horns. In both Beijing and Wuhan there was constantly the sound of drivers slamming their horn and beeping at everyone and everything. Even when drivers pass a car, they beep at the other driver to show their impatience. In Vermont, it is considered extremely rude to beep the horn at another driver. But in China drivers speak with their horns.
In Beijing I saw and waited in the worst traffic I have ever witnessed. In fact, there are so many vehicles on the road in Beijing that your plate number determines what days of the week you can drive. Also, in downtown Beijing the roads are so congested that you cross the streets via underground walk ways because there are barriers between the sidewalks and roads. After all, China is the world’s most populated country and Beijing is home to 22,000,000 and during the week there are even more people there for work.
Anyways, the roads are filled with cars, busses, trucks, motorcycles and scooters, and bicycles. The drivers don’t pay attention to road markings, especially the lane markings. Only in China can drivers make a two-lane road into three lanes and a four-lane road into seven lanes. Cars are weaving in and out of traffic as if there are no traffic laws.
While driving in China, our China Mojo group was on our bus when the driver decided to make a 3 point turn in the middle of a main street in downtown Wuhan. He completely blocked all traffic, yet some cars still managed to squeeze by. Every driver seems to be in a rush and will stop for no one, not even pedestrians. Pedestrians never have the right of way unlike in Burlington, VT. These kamikaze drivers make the roads of Beijing seem very dangerous and intimidating to people.

( a Youtube video of the traffic in China )