ENTERTAINMENT / Hot Pot Column
My Great Wall walks are chest-puffing excercise
By Chad Swanson (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-28 14:35
There is a saying in China that "you're not a man until you've been to
the Great Wall". And so it was that when I came to China, I headed
towards the Great Wall to discover my masculinity.
Badaling was the first section that I visited; however, it didn't make me
feel like a man. All the tourist shops, rebuilt sections, and
full-figured foreigners just made me feel like an old tourist.
A few months later, I visited Jiankou, a wild section of the Wall, and
discovered what it must feel like to be Indiana Jones. When scaling steep
sections, the climbers ahead often dislodged bricks and sent them flying
past my eyes. Even though this was extremely dangerous, I had to confess
that living on the edge felt great! Very manly indeed.
More months past, and my mother came to visit. To show her how I had
grown, I took her on a 10-kilometer walk from Jinshaling to Simatai. The
walk turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined, and I felt a
bit guilty when my mum told me that her legs felt as if someone had taken
to them with a baseball bat.
Although I had already been to the Wall three times, when I saw an
advertisement to go to Mutianyu, and go up by cable car, I again signed
up. Unfortunately, the driver got lost and so took us to the wrong side
of the mountain. Instead of a relaxing cable car, we would have to climb.
To make matters worse, no one knew the way, so we had to follow some old
trails. I've never been keen on following old trails because you never
know whether they have been made by humans or an animal, such as a rabbit
or a tiger.
This particular trail was also continually blocked with spider webs. Not
only was this a problem as the spiders running on my skin felt a little
discomforting, I also saw it as a sign that few humans went that way, and
there was probably a good reason for that.
After four hours of hiking, we finally reached the summit and laid our
hands on the Wall. Our water was gone, the sun was hot, and we felt ready
to die. It was then that we heard a happy call of "hello".
Standing in the guard towers was an old man of about 70 offering to sell
us drinks.
Considering what we had been through to get there, I thought finding a
70-year-old man selling drinks to be about as probable as finding George
Bush playing cards with Osama Bin Laden.
While it will forever remain a mystery how the old man got there, his
drinks refreshed me, and I was subsequently able to consider my
achievements with a clear mind.
In total, I had been to the Great Wall four times. I had experienced it
tourist style, Indiana Jones style, bad son style, and finally, wild
animal style.
As I stood there on the mountain top, hair blowing in the wind, I could
finally call myself a man.
(China Daily 06/26/2007 page20)
Top Entertaiment News
� Paris Hilton vows to prove jail has changed her
� Charges dropped in Kidman spy case
� Spice Girls expected to announce reunion
� Mandy Moore turns to songwriting on new album
� De Niro film festival to screen in Beijing
Today's Top News
� 7 billion yuan misused, irregularities found
� Special bonds to tap forex reserves
� Global poll: Distrust in US on the rise
� Olympic torch 'must not be politicized'
� Lightning strikes kill 40 in east China
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Learn Chinese, Free Chinese Lesson, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
No comments:
Post a Comment