The Great Wall

We just returned from the Great Wall. Mao said, “You are not a man until you have visited the Great Wall.” You are not a man until you have visited the Great Wall with S’s family yelling at each other all day. They have gone to dinner to yell at each other some more. I feigned a headache and excused myself. That I had to feign the headache is somewhat remarkable – by all right, I should have splitting migraine by now.

S’s brother and I climbed two stages of the Great Wall. S felt dizzy about half-way there and turned around. It is remarkably steep. Must have been a bitch to build. It requires a ¥35 ticket to walk on the wall.

After brother and I returned, S wanted to take some photos of us on a cannon just inside the admission turnstile. We had all exited already. We had out tickets, but a thin, young security guard at the exit refused to let us pass. S showed him our tickets but he still refused. This set S off. She was like a baseball manager ejected from a game. Her brother and I had to finally restrain her. It was a scene. I sympathized with the guard – he was only doing his job – something security guards the world around take very seriously. S should have known better. Although there is a CircleVision theater at the Wall, China is not Disneyland. Order trumps all, even customer satisfaction.

Incidentally, I learned the source of the conflict between S and mom. It’s not quite as I supposed. S I mad at everyone. At me for booking a roundtrip ticket. At her mother for treating her like a little girl. And at her brother for being her brother. Last night, S told me her mother stayed up washing S’s clothes and then this morning she ordered a full breakfast. This enraged S, who wanted to pack apples and get on the road to the Great Wall. The rest of the day was endless yelling and bickering, with brief interludes of relative civility getting in and out of the car.

Also saw Ming Tombs and a riverbed near the Ming Tombs.