On the first nice day since my arrival in China, Laurel and I hopped on some busses to the Great Wall. It really is a fantastic site. I was told this is the most touristy section of the wall and the base area didn't disappoint. Vendors galore selling rice paddy hats and screaming, "Cold Beer! Halo!" And people were elbow to elbow. It looked more like Busch Gardens than China. After pointing out that my student ID was expired, the attendant sold me a full price ticket and we began our hike up. It truly is a hike. The wall is never flat and over the course of the 1 km we walked, rise surpassed run at least twice.
From the base area you can go right or left. About 90% of the visitors go right-- we went left. I'm glad we did.
The wall appears to be all around you at this section. Every direction reveals more sections of the wall- sometimes stretching so far that they fade with the horizon. The farther away you get, the more people drop off and by the end of the open section there is some tranquility to be found.
Me and my doo-rag in front of the wall. The sign to the right of the wall says, "Beijing 2008 Olympics. One World, One Dream". I have to disagree.
One of the steeper sections.
Use caution!
This section of the wall was restored in the 1950s.
You can see the Wall continue to the right, behind the peak in the foreground.
This is why we went left.
1 comment:
I am pissed you went to the great wall without me, in fact, I'm pissed you went to china without me.
we'll discuss this later.
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