As Dale and I drove to Lake Isabella for our New Year’s Eve celebration it was dark already and a little foggy. We had the idea to go away for next year’s celebration earlier and were discussing that idea. Dale pointed out that we should include our kids in next year’s celebration; we hadn’t had a celebration with them. I then reminded him of our New Year’s Eve in China, 2003 which he had forgotten about.
In 2003 our oldest son, Nate and his family were teaching English in Luoyang, China. We had planned a family trip to China that summer and had tickets for our middle and youngest son, ourselves and granddaughter. That trip was canceled when SARS hit the area and the kids were closed off from the rest of the world. We decided to travel a couple of days before New Year’s Eve with hopes to be at “The Great Wall” on New Year’s Eve and morning. This new trip included our sons significant others as well.
Just before Christmas, Justin and Jenavieve left the U.S. in order to spend more time in China. Dale, Sunshine and I rendezvoused with Clayton and Jen in San Francisco then traveled to Beijing together.
Nate and Bekki had arranged a van with a driver and were waiting for us as we arrived in Beijing. It was New Year’s Eve by then and soon after we were on way to “The Great Wall” at the Simatai section. The weather was freezing cold.
The Simatai section of The Great Wall is a section north of Beijing. The wall is not repaired in that area like the section seen on the tourist videos but is well preserved in the area where visitors enter. The wall follows what Bekki refers to as “Dr. Seuss Mountains” and the wall’s path soon becomes steep and crumbly. Bricks are loose and in places missing.
We had reservations at a hotel at the base of the mountain where the wall is located but after a pipe froze we had to stay at the owner’s home just around the corner. We arrived at the Great Wall while it was still light, dropped the luggage and went onto the wall. We found a place where we could watch the sunset on the wall.
After sunset we returned to the owner’s home where a meal had been prepared for us. We fit around the table eating authentic food and drinking Chinese beer. The home actually consisted of a main home with various rooms on the property used for rentals. We were given a long room about 10’ x 12’ with one bed which stretched almost the length of the long side of the room.
The bed in our room is called a fire bed which consists of a brick box on which a thin mat and quilts are placed on top. A fire is built inside of the box early in the evening and by bedtime the fire has burned down to coals making the bed toasty warm.
Nate and Bekki decided to take the opportunity and sleep on The Great Wall. Bekki borrowed my heavy full length down coat and Nate used the Chinese Army coat that he’d picked up along the way and off they went to the wall. Justin, Jenavieve (who was sick), Elias, Christabel, Sunshine, Dale and I all piled on the bed and slept warmly. Clayton and Jen decided that they’d have their own room.
On New Year’s morning we put on as many clothes as possible as it was very, very cold and walked down to catch the gondola that would take us up to the wall. We were a little early so the gondola operator asked us to come into their house, a room next to the operations of the gondola. The couple had two beds and a small burner in their room; they insisted on our sitting on their beds and served us their tea.
As soon as the operator started the gondola we went up the mountain to the base of the path to the wall. We walked up the path and spent the morning of January 1, 2004 on “The Great Wall of China”.
In 2003 our oldest son, Nate and his family were teaching English in Luoyang, China. We had planned a family trip to China that summer and had tickets for our middle and youngest son, ourselves and granddaughter. That trip was canceled when SARS hit the area and the kids were closed off from the rest of the world. We decided to travel a couple of days before New Year’s Eve with hopes to be at “The Great Wall” on New Year’s Eve and morning. This new trip included our sons significant others as well.
Just before Christmas, Justin and Jenavieve left the U.S. in order to spend more time in China. Dale, Sunshine and I rendezvoused with Clayton and Jen in San Francisco then traveled to Beijing together.
Nate and Bekki had arranged a van with a driver and were waiting for us as we arrived in Beijing. It was New Year’s Eve by then and soon after we were on way to “The Great Wall” at the Simatai section. The weather was freezing cold.
The Simatai section of The Great Wall is a section north of Beijing. The wall is not repaired in that area like the section seen on the tourist videos but is well preserved in the area where visitors enter. The wall follows what Bekki refers to as “Dr. Seuss Mountains” and the wall’s path soon becomes steep and crumbly. Bricks are loose and in places missing.
We had reservations at a hotel at the base of the mountain where the wall is located but after a pipe froze we had to stay at the owner’s home just around the corner. We arrived at the Great Wall while it was still light, dropped the luggage and went onto the wall. We found a place where we could watch the sunset on the wall.
After sunset we returned to the owner’s home where a meal had been prepared for us. We fit around the table eating authentic food and drinking Chinese beer. The home actually consisted of a main home with various rooms on the property used for rentals. We were given a long room about 10’ x 12’ with one bed which stretched almost the length of the long side of the room.
The bed in our room is called a fire bed which consists of a brick box on which a thin mat and quilts are placed on top. A fire is built inside of the box early in the evening and by bedtime the fire has burned down to coals making the bed toasty warm.
Nate and Bekki decided to take the opportunity and sleep on The Great Wall. Bekki borrowed my heavy full length down coat and Nate used the Chinese Army coat that he’d picked up along the way and off they went to the wall. Justin, Jenavieve (who was sick), Elias, Christabel, Sunshine, Dale and I all piled on the bed and slept warmly. Clayton and Jen decided that they’d have their own room.
On New Year’s morning we put on as many clothes as possible as it was very, very cold and walked down to catch the gondola that would take us up to the wall. We were a little early so the gondola operator asked us to come into their house, a room next to the operations of the gondola. The couple had two beds and a small burner in their room; they insisted on our sitting on their beds and served us their tea.
As soon as the operator started the gondola we went up the mountain to the base of the path to the wall. We walked up the path and spent the morning of January 1, 2004 on “The Great Wall of China”.
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