Sugah's Trip to China

What a day! Part 1 - Great Wall

We left early yesterday morning for the Great Wall. It is about 2 hours from our hotel. We hired a tour bus and guide to take us around to the sights. I was in amazement at my first in person glance of the wall. It is incredible.



There are three places where you can climb the wall outside of Beijing (it is 6,000 miles long). We stopped at #2. At first glance, it seems like a pretty easy hike. It's a paved path, doesn't look too steep. Wow, wrong!




At the start of the wall, it's not too bad. The wall is about 10-15 degrees cooler than the city, but it's still about 85 degrees. Sun blazing I take off for the top. We are climbing to the highest point of the wall anywhere (or so I'm told). 880 meters, straight up. This portion of the wall is very steep, with not very many flat stretches. Other parts of the wall go steep and then have equally long parts that are flat in between.




About a quarter of the way to the top Erin decided to turn back, so I was on my own. It was getting very tiring climbing as the pave stones are not even and there are bumps in the path every few feet.


It gets rather tricky making your way through the traffic. Every type of person is on the wall climbing it, old, young, skinny, plump. People will randomly stop right in front of you and sit down. You have to wade through the crowd. You can feel your calves burn as your feet are meeting the ground at a 30 degree angle in some spots. I made it half-way and took a rest to take in the scenery.


This is what I was left to climb.


The rest of the way are steps. These steps are very steep and very uneven. There are random gaps between the steps and the stones sometimes curve in. You have to take these steps slow and steady or you can easily trip. I saw many people bite it.

Finally, I made it to the top. There were a few times when I wanted to turn back around, but I kept on going. I was very proud as it was harder than it looked.


The walk down was just as hard. The stairs down were brutal. The steep paths took a toll on your feet and back. I decided to start walking in diagonals to take the stress off my feet. I was actually able to go a lot faster this way. I made it to the bottom and our professor greeted us with a cold, creamy pea popsicle, yes pea. It wasn't too bad.




We had our sack lunch in the official Beijing 2008 Olympics souvenir shop and then took the bus ride to the Forbidden City. To answer your burning question....NO, I didn't fall! I don't know how I managed not to considering all the obstacles, but I did! :-)

posted by Chrissy @ 6:33 PM