The Great Wall
Location: Beijing, China
Local Time: Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 9:30pm
Well, Val and I took a trip to the Great Wall today. Actually, it was a trip to 2 jade carving factories, a tea shop, a short spin through the Ming Tomb and a quick walk on a 1km stretch of the Great Wall.
Doesn't make sense? Well, it works like this. They say, take a trip to the Ming Tomb (where the Ming dynasty emperors are entombed), and the Great Wall. So you cough up your $20 CND, get a ticket and show up for the bus at 8am the next morning. Then they take you to the jade carving factories, (the factory pays them per person that passes through the door) where they try to sell you jade, and the tea house (where the tea house pays them per person that passes through the door) and the tea house tries to sell you stuff.
After all of that, there was time for a half hour at the tomb, and 2 hours on the wall. But they cheaped out and took us to a part that has no entrance fee, and is 1km long.
Bit of a rip off.
Oh, and the Great Wall. Well, it's all walley, and Chinese and stuff.
The morning was a bit of a laugh. The driver picked us up, and didn't speak any English, but seemed to be in a big hurry. He hustled down the road to the van, drove in the usual nutty Asian manner, honking every time he passed a car, or a car passed him, or a car didn't pass him. In the absence of cars he honked anyway. (I honk therefore I am?)
We pulled over along side the road a few blocks from the hotel and waited for 5 minutes until our English speaking tour guide arrived. Then we rushed off to pick up another two people, all the while, the driver is going crazy through traffic.
Once we had all 4 people in the van, the English speaking tour guide turned to us and said, "My name is Victor, and I am your guide. This is Mr. Li, and he has been driving for 5 years. Very experienced."
Well, heck, if he's been driving for 5 years, no problem then.
Local Time: Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 9:30pm
Well, Val and I took a trip to the Great Wall today. Actually, it was a trip to 2 jade carving factories, a tea shop, a short spin through the Ming Tomb and a quick walk on a 1km stretch of the Great Wall.
Doesn't make sense? Well, it works like this. They say, take a trip to the Ming Tomb (where the Ming dynasty emperors are entombed), and the Great Wall. So you cough up your $20 CND, get a ticket and show up for the bus at 8am the next morning. Then they take you to the jade carving factories, (the factory pays them per person that passes through the door) where they try to sell you jade, and the tea house (where the tea house pays them per person that passes through the door) and the tea house tries to sell you stuff.
After all of that, there was time for a half hour at the tomb, and 2 hours on the wall. But they cheaped out and took us to a part that has no entrance fee, and is 1km long.
Bit of a rip off.
Oh, and the Great Wall. Well, it's all walley, and Chinese and stuff.
The morning was a bit of a laugh. The driver picked us up, and didn't speak any English, but seemed to be in a big hurry. He hustled down the road to the van, drove in the usual nutty Asian manner, honking every time he passed a car, or a car passed him, or a car didn't pass him. In the absence of cars he honked anyway. (I honk therefore I am?)
We pulled over along side the road a few blocks from the hotel and waited for 5 minutes until our English speaking tour guide arrived. Then we rushed off to pick up another two people, all the while, the driver is going crazy through traffic.
Once we had all 4 people in the van, the English speaking tour guide turned to us and said, "My name is Victor, and I am your guide. This is Mr. Li, and he has been driving for 5 years. Very experienced."
Well, heck, if he's been driving for 5 years, no problem then.
posted by Jaye | 7:04 PM
1 Comments:
Ha, ha, Jacob, that sounds just like Vietnam!
-Damian
Post a Comment
<< Home