Rushing to the Great Wall of China

In my capacity as the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours Limited, I am often asked about the destinations I have been to and how it all began in the first place. 10 years ago I embarked on my second trip around the world and I suppose you could say that this is where it truly all began. Here is my first experience of China.

I thought that visiting the Seven Wonders of the world in eight days would be a fun and challenging thing to do. Having decided with my sponsors the airlines and a chain of leading world-wide hotels it was decided that the Seven Wonders of the World were the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Golden Gate Bridge, The Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House and the Pyramids of Egypt. This would notch up a staggering 42,000 miles in 8 just days. With very limited funds and a friends borrowed cash card, only to use in emergencies, I set off on my journey of a lifetime.

One of the sponsors had promised a sum of money to help with the expenses of the trip and the quickest that the money would be available was two days into the trip! The money was to be deposited into my bank account and as I was very short of cash I decided to see if my cash card would work in one of the machines at Beijing airport. It was unsuccessful as the machine kept rejecting the card. This would have meant the end of the trip had it not been for the credit card a friend had kindly loaned me. I had promised that I would only use it in an emergency. I felt like it was taking the p to take advantage of Brendan?s kindness. My main concern was whether or not the promised money would ever be on hand to cover anything that I might need to draw from my friends account and there was not a cast iron guarantee. Also if the money did not appear in my account I couldn?t justify taking the hundreds of pounds extra that I needed for the rest of the trip from him. I imagined myself telling him the predicament I now found myself in and could hear him saying that, ?you should have used my card that is why I gave it to you!? I decided to take the gamble. I drew some money with my friends card because I needed it to get a taxi and I also needed enough for a refundable deposit at the hotel. Once through customs a very persistent Chinese ?taxi driver? pestered me to distraction. He was absolutely determined to take us wherever we needed to go! I was very assertive in dealing with him and demanded to see an official card. The Chinese boy took out a homemade ticket from his pocket. It was quite obvious from his manner that he was not the genuine article. I refused to go with him at first and opted to look outside for a proper taxi. It soon became clear that most of the taxi?s had been booked in advance and that this lad was looking to be our only hope. His charge was 300rbs to take me the twenty minutes to our hotel. I didn?t have a choice really. I felt a little uncomfortable having to put my trust in someone that I knew nothing about in a totally foreign environment. Just as I was loading my luggage into the back of his taxi, a young woman approached and enquired as to where I was going. She wasn?t having much luck with drivers either and offered to pay a third of the fare if she could share the cab. I resigned myself to the fact that we would be safer in numbers. Our Chinese escort sped through the town at 140 kilometres an hour.

I arrived at the Tianlun Dynasty Hotel and insisted that I was given my luggage before I handed over the fare. It was rather comical that neither side trusted the other.. I took my first look toward the entrance of the hotel and was astounded by its grandness. When I spotted the elegant doorman I felt like turning on my heels and taking off with the young lady that had shared the cab with me. I approached the reception desk that was set neatly into the extremely large, extremely elaborate foyer of the hotel. The staff spoke limited English but it was soon established that I had in fact been listed as having a complimentary room. The comical part was to try and organise for a taxi to pick me up at 4am the next morning, to take me to the Great Wall and then return so that I could attend a press conference at 10am. I then had to catch a flight from Beijing to go to Sydney at 11.30am! With the limited communications it was very difficult to get across exactly what it was that we wanted. I managed to sort things out by actually drawing pictures of the hotel, Great Wall taxi etc. The staff were absolutely fantastic and looked after me very well indeed.

As I had spent most of the money I had drawn out on taxi fares, I also had to arrange to be taken to a bank on the way back from the Great Wall too. It was going to cost 1000rbs to hire a driver for the day. The staff bent over backwards to help me even though they knew that I had no money and no guarantee of getting any. Somehow I managed to wake with a start at 3.05am. I got up and made my way down to the reception area, if the truth were known I was on automatic pilot! Scottie Lee, the man that had been so helpful when I had first arrived, was still manning the fort. I waited in the reception area and at about 3.50 the driver for the day arrived. When you consider that to drive me around for about seven hours was going to cost 1000rbs you realise just how much the first taxi driver that I had encountered at the Beijing airport had ripped me off!

I followed our driver to his car, a nice black Audi and as with most of the cars in Beijing the back windows were tinted black. The driver was dressed in black too and the whole thing put me in mind of a Bond movie. The driver spoke less English than the staff in the hotel, yet he proved to be to be very valuable in his willingness to help.

The actual journey was relatively boring. It was still very dark and what with the tinted windows, it was difficult to see much at all. I didn?t see any other traffic on the road because of the time I was travelling.

Scottie Lee had estimated that it would take at least 4 hours to get to the Great Wall so when I noticed a tunnel up ahead that announced in red and green lights, The Great Wall of China only 1 hour and forty minutes into the trip, I was very surprised. It wasn?t until the driver actually stopped and got out of the car, that I really believed I was there. It was a beautiful, crisp, dark morning and the stars were still clearly visible. The wall loomed above me and you could just about make out the top of it silhouetted against the starry backdrop. I was worried that the photos may not come out properly because my hands were so shaky! I took as many snaps as was comfortable and drove around to take a few more of the signs announcing the Badling Wall. I arrived back at the hotel at 7.30 much to the surprise of the staff.

With Wonder number two tucked firmly under my belt I decided that I ought to deal with the pressing no cash problem. I took to the streets of Beijing in search of an ATM machine. My excitement at finding one soon evaporated when my card was rejected for the second time. I decided against using my friends card again until I had been to the bank of China at 8.30am as had been arranged previously with the driver through Scottie. He took us through town to the bank and we discovered that it did not open until 9.30am. I tried to use my card again in the hole in the wall outside the bank still to no avail! I knew that I had to pay the driver the 1000rbs and also the staff for our breakfast so I had no choice but to use my friends card for the second time. I realised that if when I got to Sydney and my card still did not work that I had no choice but to cancel the rest of the trip. I put my friends card into the cash machine and drew out 350rbs to see if it would work. I still needed another 1000 so I put the card back in again. While I decideded how much more I might need to my utter horror the machine swallowed up the card. At this point I wasn?t too concerned because the bank was now open and I assumed that someone inside would have a key to it.

The driver and I entered the bank and tried to speak to the young lady behind the counter that only spoke limited English. ?I send card to you!? she said helpfully. ?But I need it today!? I explained. ?You have in two days time!? she continued. I couldn?t believe it; apparently the keyholder was on leave and would be back in two days time! For the first time I could see the trip slip away from me. I had well and truly given up all hope of going another step forward and could not hide the disappointment in my heart. I explained that I had a plane to catch at 11.30am, it was roughly 9.40. I still had the press conference to do at 10am. ?I send your card to you back home!? the young lady insisted. ?But I need money!? I insisted too. I couldn?t blame her for the dilemma I was now facing.

She rang the lady with the key and told me that we would have to wait for an hour as the lady lived that far away from the bank! The wait at the bank was the longest hour of my entire life. It was a cold, grey and uninviting place. I watched many people come and go whilst watching the big hands of the clock slowly knocking minutes off of the trip. I watched a lady with a small child enter the bank and soon discovered that she was the lady that held the key to all of my problems, literally. She retrieved the card and gave it to the young lady behind the counter. ?May I see passport?? she asked. I offered it to her discreetly hiding the initials under my thumb. She took it from me and compared the details. ?This not your card!? she said. ?I can?t give back!? she continued. At this point I gave up on ever completing the trip. I experienced the nauseating lurch in my stomach. ?I no give!? she insisted. You have to give her credit she was doing her job very well. After a brief chat to the lady that had retrieved the card she gave it back to us. I made sure that the lady with the key waited while I drew the money out of my friends account. I was so relieved to be able to pay Lee his long overdue fee for his much-appreciated help. He whisked me off to the airport and we said our goodbyes. I had achieved the second part of the trip with the very much appreciated and kind help of the Chinese people that I encountered.

Stuart Cheese is the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours and, having visited over 110 countries, has a wealth of travel experience. One World Tours / The Holidays in China Specialists