Day 7: The Great Wall of China

I could pretty much go home happy right now because the Great Wall was freaking awesome. We got there today after a two-ish hour long drive and it was raining. I was so bummed and expected there to be poor visibility and slippery trails, but then it cleared up and was beautiful! Thankfully I packed my sunscreen because I actually ended up needing it for the day.

I actually got a little burned on my cheeks, but I totally don’t mind because it’ll fade to tan by tomorrow!

 

So back to this ancient relic of beauty- I seriously couldn’t believe it.

I mean I’ve seen pictures of the Wall hundreds of times, but nothing prepares you for seeing it in real life. I was first shocked as to how the people who constructed it were able to manage to bring all those rocks to such mountainous points! Then I frightened of how high/far we had to walk.

Then I was surprised by the varying sizes of the steps and how they went anywhere from tiny infant sized stairs to enormous ones that you had to use your hands and feet to climb up. But really, the sheer length of the Great Wall is staggering.

 

Something you cannot see from the pictures is the AMOUNT of steps. At first, I thought the ascent up thousands of stairs would be the hard part, but the descent proved to be equally as challenging!! You have to be really cautious and mindful of broken stairs and it takes a lot of restraint to not tumble down the steep parts of along the wall. The worst part of the walk was where there was a set of stairs that was almost completely vertical and took like a half hour to get up, but the view was well worth it. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll ever walk again. My legs are SHOT.

 

We met some funny people up there too! There was a group of girls from Duquesne University, a couple of guys from Pittsburgh wearing Steelers shirts, and of course I managed to find some Germans to talk to. We all wondered how there were independent vendors perched at various (and really, really hard to access) parts of the Wall selling water, snacks, and BEER?? And I’m sure you’d all be impressed to find out that I managed to haggle the price of a bottle of water down for myself using broken Chinese! Then we each took a little toboggan-type thing on a slide that brought us all the way down the Wall to where we had started. It was a lot faster/easier than walking and really fun too!

 

After a little haggling at some souvenir places at the bottom of the hill, we got back to the city around 4pm and had lunch/dinner at a buffet with a Western theme. Pretty much the food was limited to pizza and some Chinese food staples, but also had utensils (not chopsticks) and beer was also a choice in the soda fountain. Interesting place, but not the best post-hike meal.

 

So now we’re taking a well-deserved rest after CLIMBING THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA! Sorry, still can’t believe I just did that. We’ll probably grab a little something to eat and then head out to see what Beijing is all about on a Saturday night. Can’t wait!! Then tomorrow is our free day and so far we’re planning to go to the Pearl Market and the 2008 Olympic swimming venue the Water Cube’s new water park!