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30th March, 2001
Reconstruction Of Great Wall: Cable Car For Mutianyu, Speeding Coaches Have Police Escort: Chinese Children, Parents And Grandparents On Climb:
August, 1987
Reconstruction of a section of the Great Wall at Badaling had been completed, and was open to tourists, including our group. Reconstruction of other sections of the Wall were also underway and would be opened later. The reconstruction of the section at Mutianyu would even have a cable car to one of the hill towers !
During our journey to the wall we were passed by two speeding coaches of "VIPs" with a police car escort, and through its loudspeaker one of the officers was telling all other vehicles to get out of the way, however we saw no sign of them when we arrived there ourselves. It was only a short walk from the car park to the wall and then there was a choice to be made,
to go left along a part of the wall which was still being reconstructed, or right, taking a quite steep series of steps to get to a tower, which is the path I chose, and so I started the ascent under the protection of a large black umbrella !
The Chinese people say that you have not lived a full life if you have not climbed the Great Wall, so it was not surprising to find many Chinese family groups amongst the foreign tourists. There were young children with their parents and elderly grand-parents, and graffiti was evidence of past visits, with Chinese characters etched in some of the wall copings. The first part of the way up was relatively easy as the stone steps were fairly even, but on the approach to the tower, sizes varied considerably, one step rising perhaps five or six inches and the next about 12 inches. On the steeper parts, hand-rails had been fixed to the walls and these were bright and shiny from much use by the likes of me, and the steps near the walls were well worn.
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to go left along a part of the wall which was still being reconstructed, or right, taking a quite steep series of steps to get to a tower, which is the path I chose, and so I started the ascent under the protection of a large black umbrella !