Visiting Great Wall easier than other travel challenges
It was 65 years ago, in Norman Furrer’s world history class at Morrison Cove High School, that I first learned of The Great Wall of China.
Our textbook had a picture and description of the Wall, and Norm augmented the text by talking about “The Wonders of the Modern World,” of which the Wall was one (along with the Pyramids, Taj Mahal and others). I have just returned from a visit to China and can brag that not only did I view an expanse of the Wall, I actually walked part of it, which is not an easy task.
The Wall is very steep in places, and there are no hand rails to help. The walkway has uneven, slippery cobble stones. This is not a walk for the unfit. It takes effort.
And there are jostling crowds to contend with. China has a population of 1.4 billion, and I think they were all on the Wall with me that day.
My 10-day tourist excursion to China centered on seeing that massive 5,500-mile zig-zag structure, which took 21 centuries to build, and is the only manmade landmark that can be seen with the naked eye from an orbiting spacecraft. For perspective, 5,500 crow-fly miles from Blair County is the Pacific Ocean beyond Hawaii. Other attractions were the thousands of lifesized terra cotta soldiers of Xi-An and the historic waterfront of Shanghai.
But there was one special feature of China that will be forever engraved in my memory: the squat toilet.
Unlike our typical American sit-down toilets, the Chinese toilet bowl is flush on the floor and requires the user to squat over it. There are no grab bars, or even a toilet paper holder, to grip and steady your balance. This is strictly a hovering/ levitating act. Here is the sequence of steps for its use (Caution: Do not try this at home):
Enter bathroom, take a length of toilet paper from a communal roll, find empty stall, stand athwart the embedded bowl, drop drawers, extend elbows, take deep breath, squat as low as physically possible and, finally, well, you know.
A description of the steps needed to employ the toilet paper while in an unaided squat position is not fit for a family newspaper. Use your imagination.
The theory behind the squat toilet is that the Chinese think it unhygienic to sit on a public toilet seat that has been (ugh) used previously by a stranger. The Chinese are a very logical race of people.
I stayed at modern Western hotels that had sit-down toilets, but outside, during our 10-hour excursions, only squat toilets were available. Age and two spinal operations have rendered me unable to bend far enough to even tie my shoe laces. So, the squat toilet presented a challenge, shared by others in my tour group, especially some ladies.
My solution to the squat toilet was simple. Every morning I prayed that God would bless me with daylong constipation. Don’t laugh. Except for one almost disastrous incident, it worked.
Jim Wentz, a retired Naval officer and historian of Blair and Bedford counties, writes a monthly column for the Mirror.