The Great Wall of China.  A Wonder of the world.  Continuous in its run through the hills of China (false), the only man-made structure that can be seen from space (false), and filled with the lost lives of those who paid the ultimate price to build it (also, false).  Now that we’ve gotten some misconceptions out of the way, we can start a real assessment of this wall that is considered so great.

The drive is about 2-3 hours from Beijing via bus.  Upon arrival I was immediately rushed by a bunch of xiaofan, or souvenir vendors catering to the “needs” of tourists.  They followed us for a whiles on the hike but we paid no mind to them.  In terms of how the Great Wall of China actually is, I can only really say it’s exactly what it looks like in the pictures: majestic, breathtaking, a pain in the butt. 

Compared to Tiger Leaping Gorge, I suppose it wasn’t nearly that bad (I didn’t contemplate suicide!),  but there were times I was definitely in want of rocket boots, a Segway, or a weird hybrid contraption that serves the needs of speedy horizontal movement with the capacity to jet me up and down those the parts of the wall that goes up and down.  Despite being centuries old, most of the wall looked pretty intact, until I realized that those were the renovated parts.  As we traveled further along the wall, hitting around 30 towers check-points along the way, the intactedness of the structure disappeared, only to be replaced with crumbling stone bricks, ledges that must be carefully crossed like in the video games, and fragments of walls and poles that once held the archers who fired at the invading Huns.  It was actually pretty cool.  Visually, it looked ancient.  I revered the Wall’s antiquity and cultural meaning.  I didn’t appreciate the hiking, which as we’ve already establish, I don’t care much for. 

Through the arduous hike, we took breaks and rested alongside the wall’s edge.  Most of the landscape was barren.  The deforestation that took place centuries ago to fuel the brick making had been devastating to the surroundings.  I can only imagine with my eyes closed how cool it would’ve looked if there were dense, thick forests on both sides of this giant stone snake.  It would’ve been really cool, I think.

As we walked, those darned xiaofans kept bothering us so I eventually caved in a bought a Great Wall photo book, which I am pleased to say I bargained down to a decent price.  The xiaofans also collected our empty bottles, which apparently they could cash in for a measly 3 fen (about half a cent).  I’ve noticed this phenomenon elsewhere.  People, often fish through trash bins looking for plastic water and soft drink bottles and collect them in hug bags.  I always wondered if they traded those in for money, and if it was really worth all that trouble.  I learned that it is humiliating and difficult, but for some it is scraping together a living.

We entered a forbidden part of the wall, and it was totally awesome.  I felt like Kratos from God of War, except less muscular and less adept at jumping, ledge hopping, and walking along narrow bridges.  Eventually, we ended up in a small village near the wall where we would be homestaying for the night.  They had the best kung pao chicken I have ever tasted in all of China.   

Location: The Great Wall of China, China