We got up at 6am and caught a taxi to the subway station at 6:30. Met the group, Rita, Shirley, Min and Young at 7:30am.
SIDENOTE: I just so happens that every person in our group completed the International College Program at Disney World, except for Shirley. We all worked in different locations, but it was really cool to have that one common thread connecting us.
Young was the leader for the day, so we followed him to the tour bus station and he handled all the dealings about which bus and how much.Thanks to a student discount we each ended up paying 75CNY. This included roundtrip transportation and entrance to the Great Wall.
SIDENOTE: Yes, you have to pay to climb the wall. Seems odd, but they got to make money for repairs somehow.
The bus ride was uneventful. It took about an hour and a half to get out to the Beijing countryside (who knew it existed?!) and just a little while longer to get to the bottom of the Great Wall. We visited the Mutianyu section which is a slightly less touristy section of the wall. The day was absolutely beautiful: sun shining and blue skies. The tour guide let us know we had three hours to explore, and then we were off!
The walk up to the wall took about 20 minutes and was pretty darn tiring. I kept asking, "Does this count? Am I a hero yet?" My friends of course said, "No."
SIDENOTE: According to my friends, Chinese tradition says that when you visit the Great Wall for the first time, you become a hero.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs going up to the actual wall my first thought was "Wow! This really is just a wall!" Then of course, once I went up the stairs that thought changed into, "Wow! People built this by hand?! Centuries ago!?" The whole experience of walking along the wall and knowing that so many people, tourists and soldiers alike, had walked there before me was just awesome. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking and being able to see the Great Wall snaking off into the distance made me feel like I had stepped into a postcard.
We climbed for the greater part of the three hours and it was exhausting. My legs even hurt a day later. Some of the stairs were so steep that they almost reachd my knees, and I had to use my hands when climbing up and down. I can't even imagine having to walk them daily. We went into all of the watch towers we passed and you really could see forever at the top of them.
Sara and Rita chose to take a break and watched all of our stuff for us while the rest of us went and climbed to the END! (Well, the end of the Mutianyu section). It felt so cool to be standing at the end, seeing the sign the said, "No admittance. Non-tourist Section." I so wanted to go exploring beyond that sign. We could see another part of the wall that was all over grown, and it looked amazing. I'd definitely like to go back and go to an even less touristy part.
Our three hours seemed to fly by, but at the end of them we were back on the bus for a 2 1/2 hour ride home. The delay was due to Beijing traffic. I slept most of the way.
SIDENOTE: There was only one embarrasing moment. Min asked, very loudly, "Why do White people where shorts in this weather?" right when three English guys were walking by. Of course they heard, and the first disgustdly said "White people?!" I tried to just calmly explain that they were probably from somewhere up north and thought the weather felt nice. The third guy walking by let us know that they were in fact English and that this was nice weather. Ahhhhh fun times.
The day was one big dream come true and now I can say,
"I AM A HERO."
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