One of the highlights of this year for me and possibly of my life (I know, that is quite a statement eh?) was getting to visit the Great Wall of China! We had the opportunity to book it up to Beijing for two full days to cram in as much tourism as possible. We visited Tiennamen Square, The Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the silk market. In addition, how could you go to Beijing without seeing the wall? When presented with the chance to go, there were two choices. We could either go to the part of the wall that has been rebuilt so it looks a lot nicer (including MANY tourists) OR we could go to what they called the “Secret Wall.” It was a part of the wall that was a little more rugged but untouched. Although it would be a bit more of a hike, we decided to do the secret wall. It was crazy! They dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. I mean it…we were walking down a road with a Chinese guide who didn’t speak any English. He lead us up to a path leading up the side of a mountain where we saw part of the wall peeking through. It was about a 45 minute hike up the mountain to where the wall lay. And it was breathtaking!!
This lead to a wonderful day of about 4 hours of hiking up and down the wall where bricks were breaking off, foliage popping through and a spectacular mountain view. Parts of it were difficult but funny as we slid down areas with no steps left. I even fell on my bum once or twice. But we had a laugh and moved on. The day was cool and crisp and sunny. And the craziest part of all was that WE WERE THE ONLY ONES UP THERE! It was unbelievable. Our team of 40 had that part of the wall to ourselves for a day and we were ecstatic. I’ll never forget my few hours up there. I felt like I was on top of the world and constantly was wondering if it was actually ME up there on the Great Wall of China. There have been so many points this year where I actually climb out of my flesh for a second and wonder what the heck I am doing. And I love it. Enjoy the picutres:
AND for your viewing pleasure, check out this sweet video of me eating a piece of the Great Wall of China. Please, you can’t hike up to the Great Wall of China and not do something out of the ordinary. Plus, I had a piece of that grand wall in my stomach for a couple days. You can’t beat that.
