Category Archives: Brave

October 24 – On the bullet train to Xi’an – in which I will reflect upon yesterday’s trip to The Great Wall

Part 1 -The Great Wall – October 23, 2019

Great Wall day started with my lying awake between 3 and 6am or so as I had not yet adjusted to the 15 hour time change yet. I think I fell asleep for a bit because I woke with a start when the alarm went off at 6:30.

There was a bus journey to the wall that took 2.5 hours. During the ride our guide gave is our first Chinese lesson: we learned how to count from 1 to 5. He then gave us a lesson on the geography of China and a history of the of the Great Wall (I’m going to refer to it as “the wall” from now on.)

He also strongly suggested to us that instead of hiking up the mountain that we pay to take the cable car to the start of the wall. Some people were curious about the hike, but I had spent the day before complaining about going up too many stairs, so I was getting my money counted-out to pay for the cable car.

After getting off the bus at the site of the wall, we appreciated the size of the hill going up to the wall, and why they cable car was a good idea. To my eyes it looked like the height and steepness of the blue chair at Mt Washington- though it’s probably not as tall. I have no sense of these things and it’s been a few years since I’ve been skiing. Either way, it had a gondola type cable car that looked like it went straight up. Everyone got tickets.

**Side note: I’m really digging a packet of Prawn Crackers as I write this. I’ve had them before, but these are special because I have purchased them in Beijing. I’m not having any troubles eating in China so far. The only problem is when buying snacks in convenience stores I can’t read any ingredients. I’m being pretty cautious but I do ok: some dried fruit, fruit cocktail, fresh bananas, instant noodles. I tried some “purple sweet potato bean paste lunch buns” that turned out to be safe but they were really sweet. I’ve left a mostly uneaten package back in Beijing because I didn’t think I’d be able to finish them.**

The cable car slowed down but didn’t stop so we had to load into a moving car, and then whoosh started going really fast up the hill. Some of my tour mates in the car with me were scared but I wasn’t.

The Great Wall is long and winds up the mountain like a dragon. There are gates along the way that act as markers, 1 through 20. The cable car deposited us at gate 14 (to be fact checked – I can’t remember), which, according to our guide is the best section as it has been nicely restored.

It was a beautiful day for a walk on the wall. It was sunny and the sky was (mostly) clear. Entering through the gate, I was overwhelmed with the sight of the wall winding up a mountain of trees and vegetation just starting to turn colour for the fall. Also: many many people having their photo taken against this view.

The wall is a crazy walk. There are nice smooth bits but these come between steep steps, low steps, gates, and groups of people holding photo shoots. I had some trouble going down some of the high steps because the were steep and high and had nothing to hold onto! I would ‘bum down’ at the very top and then I’d be fine after that.

Our guide told us to walk at our own pace, and we didn’t have to walk the whole wall if we didn’t want to: we could do whatever our bodies could handle. He also explained how the last (maintained) section of the wall was the steepest.

It took about 1/2 hour to walk to the last gate before the steep part. I was walking with a woman from my tour group, and we decided to have a break and a snack before attempting the steep part. We were both secretly thinking to ourselves that we might not go up, but after a fee minutes we started up.

The steep part of the wall is a big staircase made up of stairs of varying widths, heights and depths. It is covered in people of varying levels of fitness going up and coming back down.

My tour mate and I went up pretty slowly, stopping to rest quite often. Sometimes I’d sit down to look back – it gets very very high and I didn’t want to go into shock when I got to the top.

I did have a mild panic attach around 1/2 way up as I thought about how high I was and how tired my legs were getting, and worrying I wouldn’t make it back down. I stopped thinking about that and kept going.

OMG the last part of the stairs to get up to the last tower was nearly straight up and you get up by climbing up high, and super narrow steps. Some people can climb these like normal steps. Other people climb them with hands and feet like a salamander up a wall. I used the latter method.

At the top of the “last” tower there are a lot of people celebrating, catching their breath and taking photos of the view. It is not really the last tower, bit is the end of the section that has been restored and it maintained.

I was out of breath and shaky from being tired, but also from being terrified of the height. I was OK though.

** Pause in writing to watch scenery from the train, have a snack, listen to a podcast, have a wee snooze, and to take a walk along the train to find a western-style toilet **

We spent a little while at this tower to rest, and to greet other members of our group who had already made it, and who arrived while we waited. The mountain view was beautiful and it was nice to take the time to admire it while catching my breath.

Another thing I did here was to look down at the stairs I had just climbed, and felt a bit nauseous about having a go down them again. Very steep and very high. I didn’t cry. Another of my tour mates assured me it was perfectly fine to ‘bum down’ if needed and go very slow.

For the very steep first part down, which I had just come up using my hands as well as my legs, I took many many very deep breaths (Dad suggested “take a deep breath and go” as his advice before I left for my trip and I applied it here) and bummed down very slowly for the first bit, and then a little quicker for the last few steps.

My legs were very shaky on the rest of the way down from over-use. I’m sure everyone could see how much they were vibrating. I had to sit down a lot to rest, and I clung to the edge a lot of the way down. At some point, however, as it got lower and the stairs were a bit more even I figured out that just focusing down at the stairs immediately in front of me helped- not looking up at the view that might be distracting and maybe make me miss a stair. I made it down safely.

The walk back along the wall was easy after doing the steep part, but a bit annoying with shaky-tired legs. Just walking fast seemed to be the solution.

After we finished walking down the wall and met up with some other members of our group we found a magical cave that was all lot up like a fairyland inside. It was a tranquil place to recover. It was also nice and cool – it was a warm day.

Then lunch at the wall, the bus back to the hotel, and the rest of the evening was spent exploring Beijing with my group – our last night in the city.

Part 2 – On the Bullet Train to Xi’an – Present day.

I’m on the bullet train between Beijing and Xi’an. It’s a 5.5 hour ride, giving me ample time to write. I was worried for a whole because I needed to pee, and I had only seen a squat toilet at the front of our carriage. But it’s ok! I walked back a few carriages and found a western toilet. There was even toilet paper! (I had taken a supply of my own just in case.) I was good to get up and stretch my legs.

In Xi’an the plan is to get organized at our hotel and the have a walking tour of the Muslim Quarter. Then dinner, I hope. I’ve heard dumplings are the thing here.

October 17 – Two more sleeps

I left myself many chores to do tonight after work. It is my only free evening this week, so I wanted to dedicate it to my final pack and to finish up tidying my house. I predicted I would get frantic with nervousness doing this, finding the last things to do before my trip. I leave early on Saturday so there won’t be much time for last minute dishes, etc, while I wait to go; but, thusly, I am anxious to be ready to go. I get fussy before a trip, making sure my house will be left clean: recycling out, kitchen counters wiped, bed made. These are things that I don’t care about on a day-to-day basis. But when I’m leaving for a big trip, I like to look around before I leave and know I’ve left things in order. Extra especially, I love coming home to a clean apartment.

Secret: I could have left that sentence as “I love coming home.”

This week my excitement for my trip has turned into anxiousness and a sort of pre-homesickness. It started last Friday when Susan and I were deciding where to meet for dinner. I had suggested something new, but then realized I was craving a familiar location, in anticipation of all the new places I’ll soon be visiting. And all of the situations I would have no such control over.

I wrote in my last post about how much I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my family, and that was part of this need for the familiar, or in this case, the hyper-familiar, the very foundation of familiarity. It was hard to leave.

I’m not sure why I’m so pre-homesick this time. I keep reminding myself that three weeks, while a longer trip than I’ve been on for a while, isn’t that long. I wrote as I was leaving for Mexico last year how homesick I felt – so it’s part of the trip, and I know it goes away. I have some ideas of why it hit me early this time:

  1. I’ve been on three airplane trips this year! So fun! But I haven’t had enough time to forget how much waiting and impatience there is to airplane travel. I usually plan trips with more of a gap in between to fully recover. (And to save up money again…. but I’m not thinking about that part right now.)
  2. Travelling somewhere completely foreign all by myself! Scary!
  3. It’s October and I should be getting ready for cold-weather hibernation – I’m leaving a bit later in the month than I usually do. I’m looking around my tidy and cozy house and thinking I would be a better choice to just stay here for three weeks.
  4. The anticipation of not having control over things while being on a tour: most days are planned with sightseeing, accommodation is pre-planned and assigned, restaurants are usually chosen by the guide. These are all things that I am happy to have organized for me, and is why I like to pay to go on a tour! But I live alone and is pretty much do as I like in normal life, so following along takes a little adjustment, even if it does make complete sense and I’m so glad to be traveling this way.
  5. I think too much about things.

I planned to fret and pack and clean tonight, Thursday, because still have one more sleep after this before I go. My plan for Friday night is to relax and be calm.

Truth: I am only ever nervous for a trip until I get on my first form of transportation. Then a little bit just before I meet with the rest of the tour group. Then I’m fine.

***

My List of Thursday Evening Chores

  • Clean bathroom sink and toilet
  • Do dishes
  • Pack few remaining items
  • Water bottle in suitcase or carry-on?
  • Long or short phone charger cord?
  • Have a bath
  • Bump elbow against corner of towel bar
  • Weird arm-wriggly cry-dance of pain
  • Is lower arm paralysis a thing?
  • Cut nails
  • Study peeling blisters on the bottoms of my big toes
  • Bandage new blister on back of right heel
  • Have maccachee for dinner
  • Finish yogurt
  • Write for Puddlelillies.com
  • “Chores”

It’s travel day today.  I’ll start leaving Victoria around 5 this afternoon to catch a 2am flight to Taipei, with an additional flight after that to Hanoi.  I’m going to be messed up after this.  I hope greatly that I sleep on the plane.  (In the middle of this itinerary I’m goint to meet Julie at the Vancouver airport, where we have planned to get up to hijinks, but this may devolve into her poking me to stay awake.)

Here is a list of things I’m taking to amuse myself when I’m not asleep:

  1. 2 young adult fantasy novels (the Seven Realms series numbers 2 and 3)
  2. Knittin’
  3. new playlist of music made up off all the old random songs I have on my computer (this was a good idea! – see below)
  4. Movies: Capt’n America 2, Thor 2, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensiblitily, and 2 episodes of Endevour

I was super nervous yesterday, to the point of panicking.  But I went to a flamenco workshop around mid-day and this helped a lot.  I had pre-registered for this in hopes that it would be a good distraction, and I was right.  Not only is physical activity good for nerves, I also saw some dance friends there.  Friends are also good for nerves.  By yesterday evening, after flamenco and then pizza for lunch, my anxiety had advanced to the “dance party phase” thanks to my new playlist. The dance party phase is FAR SUPERIOR to the nervous-panic phase.

Today I wait.  I’m spending this morning puttering around and tidying. Trying to be calm.  This afternoon I’ll go to accupunture, come home from that, and then leave.

PS. I had almost finished consuming all my perishable foods when I noticed that I had 2, nearly full, cartons of rice milk in my fridge! I’ve been spending spare moments eating cereal.

Unng. I guess I’m in the west end on a Saturday night. No, Covent Garden. It’s kinda awful all these people and fancy restaurants and pubs all full of people and serving nothing I want. I went in one place that looked good but it was waaay too hot.

So I’m at a place where the proprietor came out to advertise the free starter when getting a main. Almost completely empty, no crowd outside. I had chicken and chips. I’m findimg meat and chips, of all the English food on offer, works well for me. What I’d like is some rice with vegetables. Sushi.

After supper– I’m hanging out at the royal opera house now. If my seat is too precarious I might just leave. Thus the flexibility of the cheap ticket. I’m not the scuzziest-dressed here, which makes me glad. I wasn’t worried but I wasn’t sure. As usual, once I get to the theare everything is comfortable.

Moments later. No longer comfortable. Seat is really really high. I can see 1/3 of the stage – more if I lean over the railing. But I’m not going to lean over the railing!!!! OK I just checked. I’m here again Wednesday and where I am in the Upper Slips tonight, on Wed I am in the Lower Slips so not so high.

Edit: third intermission. I spent the last 52 minutes draped over the rail in front of me, trying to see more. There have been many big jumps. I was thinking of leaving now due to the late hour and me being sleepy, but the last ballet is a Balanchine so I better check it out. Also there are more tutus in this one. I like tutus.

If you were wondering, I was brave on Friday because I drove mum’s van to Nanaimo from Duncan.  This was brave because I don’t like driving, and then brave on another level down because I haven’t driven around Nanaimo very much.  Or at all.  Well, once in 1999 maybe.  And that I “don’t like” driving doesn’t really sound like a good excuse, as once I start I rather don’t mind.  It’s more that I become overly anxious when the prospect of driving is before me.  But this was a volunteer mission.  I visited Naomi to see her in a play.  And it all went well, since things I am anxious about usually turn out that way.  I even got to drive Naomi around in a helpful manner, to look at shoes.  I suppose, and I didn’t think of this until I got home and the whole adventure was over, I could have been More Helpful by taking her grocery shopping since she was out of food!  I’m alarmed I didn’t think of this actually, since when mum visits me with same van she almost always drives me to the supermarket.  Oh well.  Driving.

That was Friday and Saturday that I drove.

Today I finished reading “Makers” by Cory Doctorow.  Crazy.  I don’t want to give any of it away.  Or, you know, review it.

I had a super-long weekend, extending to today, Tuesday.  I don’t think the five-days-off, two-days-on really works for me, though.  I almost forgot to go to dance tonight.