Sorry for not writing in a while. I’ve been pretty busy lately. And by busy, I mean that I’ve actually had to enter the lab a few times during the week instead of sitting at my desk all day. I still haven’t been able to synthesize the compound I’m trying to, but no real surprise there. Start praying to the chemistry gods!!!
Anyways, I’ve done lots of exciting things lately, and they all share a common theme – climbing. First was the drum and bell towers a few weeks ago. The stairs were about a foot tall each and incredibly steep, making for a fun ascent. If you think of some simple trigonometry, the taller the triangle, the larger the incline, thus the need for some incredibly steep stairs. I realized that if the empire had figured out the spiral staircase technology, life would have been a lot easier if you were in charge of sounding the drums each day. But unfortunately for the seven guys who continue the tradition and play each day on the hour for tourists like us, this was not the case. The brief performance was one of those make your heart vibrate kind of shows. Also more views of Beijing from the top. The more I see it from above, the more I realize just how big it is!
Next stop in the climbing tour – Fragrant Hill. The name comes from the fact that the peak apparently looks like an incense burner, but who knows. This hill or mountain (whatever you want to call it) is at the edge of the western edge of the city, a fairly easy bus trip from our sweet digs. (The digs are not actually all that sweet, but someone makes my bed every day, so I can’t really complain).
The park was just what I needed – some nature. I’ve been having nature withdrawals for the past few weeks. The city thing is fun, but it’s beginning to get a little old. I just want to see some birds, hear some good nature sounds, and boy what I wouldn’t do for some ocean. (More on the ocean to come. Epic beach weekend in the works!) The park was an excellent, exhausting day, and my butt muscles were certainly feeling it the next day. Most of the paths are lined with steps leading up to the top, but we also did our fair share of off-roading. Not only am I a Trescott, but I am also a recent graduate of “Adventure Club”, Malawi chapter. So, when I see a fence in the woods with a clear path on both sides, my natural instinct is obviously to take the path and jump the fence. A few of the others needed some convincing, but after a steep climb through the trees, a pee break, and some serious wrestling with the overgrowing branches, all agreed the fence hop was worth it. The climb was certainly a workout, and our picnic lunch of dumplings at the top was well deserved. More excellent views, and you could just make out the city center through the smog and haze. It was a blue sky day though on the mountain, which are a real treat here. Oh, and I forgot to mention the Party singalong that we happened upon on our hike up. I really did start to feel like I was in the Sound of Music, climbing a mountain to the voices of a few hundred people. Who knows what they were singing about, but it made for a good climbing soundtrack.
Fragrant Hill was certainly a fun adventure, but it was only just a warm-up for this past weekend’s fun. One of my neighbors was in China on business, and decided to make a stop in Beijing for the weekend. And what is the number one thing that one has to do when they come to Beijing? Hike the Great Wall. So, that’s just what we did. Well actually it was a bit more complicated than that, because first you have to get to the Great Wall. When the Beijing Bible as we call it (my awesome tour book that gets us everywhere) tells us to take the bus to Huairou where we should transfer to another bus, I don’t really question it. But, it was the first time I lost faith in the book, because when we arrived in the city of Huairou, instead of one stop, there were about ten, and instead of a second bus, there were only minibus drivers wanting to rip you off and sketchy unmarked taxis. Regardless, we did make it to the wall (by way of the sketchy unmarked taxi, of course).
The Great Wall is truly breathtaking, and for two reasons. One, the views are absolutely amazing. I scored again with an excellent blue sky day and high visibility. The mountains are similar to those on Lost, and I almost felt like I was on the Island, except there was no water. The Great Wall is also literally breathtaking. It’s a tough climb! You can opt for the gondola which will take you up to the wall, but once you make it to the wall, the fun has only just begun (and by fun, I mean hard work and lots of sweating). There were relatively few people at this section of the wall, but once we made it to a certain point, everyone hiking down would pass on some words of encouragement and let us know of the real treat waiting for us at the top – a section of the wall that hasn’t recently been restored. It’s odd, because there’s a sign which tells visitors that this area of the wall is forbidden, but then directly past it there are two vendors selling cold bottles of Coca Cola and beer. This is not the first time I have found that no entry means entry in Beijing. It seems to happen all the time in subway stations.
After hiking down to the other end of the wall, to cap off our excellent day we decided to take one of the alternative options of getting off the mountain – the toboggan. The non-Trescott grandfather instincts were making themselves known. It was certainly a this-would-never-go-over-in-
Now I just told you about my visit to the Great Wall, and you’ll say, “Oh, that’s nice, Betty went to the Great Wall.” But I really didn’t give you any idea of how great it actually was. It’s one of those you-had-to-be-there moments. The pictures might help (but the files are too big and I don’t want to screw them up trying to post them, so you can’t see them now). But it’s one of those things you really just have to see for yourself. I’m sorry. Maybe this is my excuse for being lazy and not wanting to write more, and it’s definitely a bit corny, but really, the Great Wall is pretty great.
There is one more item on my list of things I’ve climbed lately. (Cue Bob Barker voice). It’s a new bike!!! It’s been graduation at Tsinghua University, and I say it like that because for the past two weeks I have seen someone in a cap and gown every day. Regardless, this means that a few of our friends in the lab are moving on, and one was kind enough to loan me her bike for the rest of the summer. She’ll be working on the other side of the city, and I guess has no need for it. This is great for Nebromaha, as he no longer needs to drive me to work and to breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, but it’s been an adjustment for me. This is also where the climbing comes in. The bike is a bit too tall, and the mount and dismount can be challenging. I still haven’t mastered the one legged push and jump over that looks so graceful when executed correctly, but I will say that I’m getting pretty good at the dismount. This is less fun when trying to dodge vehicles in the middle of an intersection, but I guess I’m here writing this, so it’s worked out so far.
Hope you all had a good 4th of July. Fireworks are illegal in the city, and diet soda doesn’t exist in this country so there were also no Diet Coke and Mentos explosions for us.
Betty
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