Day 4: Beijing Trip – The Great Wall

Thursday we went to the Great Wall of China. Just WOW! When you leave Beijing it is about a 90 minute drive to one section of the wall that is popular. Once you leave the city, it is all fields of cherry trees and apricot trees. At the Great Wall, was the typical tourist vendors that you see but this time there was FRUIT and nuts! It was beautiful and soooooo good!

This is Paul haggling over price. I am too soft, and not allowed to bargain with the little old ladies… 🙂

At the top of the Great Wall when you get off the gondola ride to take you to the top. I am not even sure you have the option of walking up, it is such rugged terrain.

Once on the top we started hiking…. and hiking and hiking.

When I say hiking, I really do mean hiking. Although I saw some crazy German ladies with wedges on, I think tennis shoes were mandatory.

It was a beautiful day and we had rearranged our schedule when we got up that morning and saw what a clear day it was. It gets very hazy for most of the day every day. Early in the morning, it was clear, by the time we were hiking down it was already getting hazy and cloudy.

This is one of my more favorite photos 🙂 Paul was doling out RMB to the kids… there was a man with a Pillsbury Dough Boy shirt on that said, ” Poke Me” and so he offered 20 RMB to the kid that poked the guy in the belly… Thinking they would not be brave enough to do that to someone they don’t know. Never underestimate the power of cash and kids! 🙂

The guy thought it was hilarious and took pictures with the kids! Paul had to then follow through and give them each 20 RMB because they all did it.

There were parts of the wall that were so steep you felt like you could fall backwards! It was exhausting! Thinking about how they built this wall with no modern equipment is just amazing. You can’t imagine the work that it must have taken to build this wall.

Every guard tower was a person selling “COLD BEER!” water and candy. To imagine them hauling a cooler and all the drinks up is crazy as well! Especially since they were all older people. Some were Mongolian and some were Chinese. They liked to tell you which side of the wall the came from.

This is Paul taking a break with the Great Wall we had walked in the background.

Now, this is where my MOTHER has us climb out a window and blatantly walk past a “no admittance” sign to a part of the wall that was not restored. My kids were horrified and begging to not have to spend the rest of their lives in a Chinese prison. We explained that the Chinese government doesn’t care, that was just a warning that you are completely on your own and should you hurt yourself, tough luck.

We hiked along the un-repaired wall for a long ways. It was really beautiful and the best part of the wall in my opinion. With all the trees and foliage growing in the middle of the path, the wall was crumbling and the guard towers were not vandalized. You can see the wall behind us and the trees and grass growing on it.

This is my Mom and girls on top of one of the unrestored guard towers.

Seriously? Can she get anymore BEAUTIFUL?! This couple was having their wedding pictures on the Great Wall. It made me cry they were so beautiful. That and my camera would not switch off timer mode and some nice Canadian tourist fixed it for me! He thought I was crying about the camera, I was crying about the real live China Doll bride!

This girl beat us up with steepest part. Because she is young and has not had 7 kids, I keep reminding her! She sat on the top “meditating” waiting for us to catch up to her!

My Mom snapped this picture of my 10 year old, and I just love it.

The way down is much easier then the way up! It is like a really outdated and dangerous alpine slide.

Then to end the night we went to the acrobat show once back in Beijing. That woman flying through the air is holding a stack of glass bowls on her foot and will land on that guys hands with her hands!!! It was an hour of the most amazing things I have ever seen humans do!

The Great Wall was just as AMAZING as I hoped it would be! It is really worth adding to your bucket list of things to do!