Our hostel connected us with a 'tour' of the Great Wall. At 8am we hit the ground running with forty or so other tourists. We drove the hour and a half outside of Beijing in a air conditioned coach bus. The scenery was beautiful: rivers, fauna and Chinese characters everywhere.
There are multiple access places along the wall but all tens of kilometers apart. We chose to go up at the Mutianyu section for there should be fewer tourists than some of the other entrances and we would be able to see both the restored sections as well as the original wall.
At the base we hopped out of the bus (i find that phrase entertaining because I don't really see how stepping off a bus or out of a car is hopping. Another thing to ponder.) Our guide gave us our tickets an said we had three hours to explore. To get up to the wall there were two choices: a ski lift or climb the stairs. We chose climbing as it was free and we had eaten ice cream the day before. That might have been a bad choice. It was intense, but we succeeded and soon found out it was only a warmup to the climbing we had to do on the wall.
As we entered the gate and stepped onto the ACTUAL Great Wall of China I was more than just whelmed. I was overwhelmed (that is an ism of my brother, Nathan). It is an incredibly awe-striking thing to be standing on such a world icon, a historical phenomenon. And being on the wall made me realize how vast and magnificent it really is. Again I will use pictures to describe:
In this last picture take a look at the steepest point on the right. That is as far as Teresa and I got and it was quite the journey. We counted the steps on the way down: 2,437. In reality it was even more than that as we never went straight up or straight down: we'd go up a bit then down a bit an when we counted we strictly counted the down steps. 2,437 and 23 of them were the steepest things I've ever climbed! We were exhausted and drenched after our three hour exploration. So, if you choose to explore the great wall in the future know that it is hard work. The crazy thing? A) imagine making this thing. B) imagine living on this thing. Holy workout. Those ancient Chinese sure didn't need Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod.
Our tour guide gave a briefing of the great wall but I have also read different information. It was built by multiple dynasties between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese empires. It started out as many separate walls and eventually they were all connected making this wall the longest human made structure very built and the greatest in terms of surface area and mass. Sources vary but it is at least 8,500km long.
The wall is getting shorter because of erosion, people taking bricks for personal use and modern construction.
At its peak the Ming wall was guarded by more than 1 million men. It is said that 2-3 million men died as a result of building this wall over the centuries. The peasants who died were buried in the wall. Because transporting materials was difficult they tried to use local resources, ie stones from mountains, whenever possible.
It is said that the great wall can be seen from the moon. According to my readings, that is a myth. It is at most 30ft wide and generally has the same color as the earth around it. The apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles away.
Fun story: we were chilling at a spot when I heard what I swore to be Dutch being spoken. So I asked the three older and one younger folk to confirm. I was right. We chatted for a bit. They asked if I'd been there and if I liked it. I said I loved my trip to holland because I got to see where my dad was born, his house and family's town etc... When I told them my dad was born in Surhuisterveen the one lady was very excited as she knew of this tiny town! And...she knew he name Weening. Yeah for Dutch Bingo, legit, on the Great Wall! Then one of them asked if I knew Dutch: nope, only bad words in Frisian. They said I should learn Dutch but I told them I didn't know if my family would appreciate that as we are Frisian. She balked. Actually made a noise and a face. "agh, Frisian. An unnecessary language. I have a hard time learning it. Don't waste your time!" and therein lies the Frisian vs non-Frisian battle.
After our exhausting 3hour hike we were served lunch through our tour. We sat at tables of eight and had a huge lazy Susan with multiple food choices on it and we gave 'er! There were chopsticks at our place settings and cutlery in the middle. I opted to not embarrass myself in front of the 6 Spanish men we were sitting with and i grabbed a fork. The food was authentic and incredible! It was a good day, a very good day. For most people this would be enough for one day, but not for Teresa and I! We got back to the hostel at 4 and quickly made evening plans ;)
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