Last weekend, I attempted to take visitors from overseas to Longqing Gorge, promising them a day of bungee jumping, rock climbing and karst mountains.

Described as the Guilin of the north, Longqing Gorge is only 50 miles from the city - but we failed to make it past the Third Ring Road.

The problem lay with bus 919.

Before leaving my apartment, I thoroughly researched the route, drew a map of where the bus stop was in location to the nearest subway and knew the approximate cost of a taxi from Yanqing, the closest town to the gorge, to our destination.

Unfortunately, what I didn't know was that bus 919 to Yanqing is also the Badaling Great Wall bus and it only runs from 8:30 am to noon.

The Badaling section of the Great Wall is the closest to Beijing and the most popular and renovated part. It is also well-known by expats as a place to avoid at all costs. I have climbed the Great Wall on five occasions and have never been tempted to go to Badaling, nor do I ever intend to go. I prefer to sideline the mass of people "climbing" the wall (some wearing high heels) and the commercialization of the ancient defense line against the ancient invaders. So, it was to my great surprise that I found myself sardined in a bus with people heading to Badaling.

After waiting in line under the scorching sun for more than 40 minutes, the crowds were not moving, despite several buses pulling up.

It soon became apparent that the queue was at a standstill because some men in yellow-shirts were preventing people in the line boarding the bus by forcing their way on first and preventing anyone else from getting on.

From my spot in the line, standing on the railings, it seemed that the mob of yellow-shirts were forming a loose V-shape and working their way to where the bus was approaching the queue. They would push past the two small traffic control women and block off anyone who had enough nerve to infiltrate the pack.

The maneuver was not taken lightly by the crowd. People in the queue reacted, waving their fists and screaming insults at the yellow-shirts but they were unmoved. One yellow-shirt positioned himself on the side facing the furious crowd, smugly pulled out a newspaper and smiled broadly at the people who were near the rioting stage. Maybe five people in the queue managed to get on the bus. The yellow-shirts filled all the seats.

This happened for every bus that pulled up; the yellow-shirts kept coming. It became clear that we were not going to the gorge that day.

We jumped over the railings and retreated back to the subway glaring at several yellow-shirts that we passed. Stitched on their shirts was the name of their taxi company.

As we rounded the corner, a line of taxis was waiting to take customers to the Great Wall. Their business will likely pick up when the buses stop running at noon.

Undeterred, my friends tried to go to Longqing Gorge the following Monday and had no problems. They were on a bus within 20 minutes and there were no yellow-shirts in sight.

Unfortunately, unless I take a day off work, I don't have the luxury of visiting the gorge when the yellow-shirts are not out-in-force.

Next time I have the urge to look at karst mountains, I will have to be content with looking at photos from my trip to Guilin earlier this year.

For China Daily

 

(China Daily 08/16/2010 page26)