Climbing the Great Wall..and a beer?

Date: August 6, 2008
Location: Dorms
Time: 8:30 pm


What a day! The plan for today was simple: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. That’s right everyone I officially climbed the Great Wall. Let’s start with the morning; I woke up after having a wonderful night’s sleep to a nice Chinese breakfast laid out by our hosts. After a few minutes of relaxing after breakfast, we headed out to The Great Wall. In the drive to our destination, it was incredible to see the type of development that occurred in surrounding Beijing. Even in the poorest areas that we drove by, the spirit of the Olympics were still present. Banners, flags and Olympic volunteers were scattered throughout the city of Beijing.




Upon arriving to the Great Wall, I had completely forgotten the amount of climbing that was involved to get to the wall. We paid for the tickets and as a group, trekked up the 1,500+ steps up. I looked up and realized that the Wall was quiet lost in the fog of China. Looking at how high the wall was, I realized that I should’ve been working out more. After the first 5 minutes of going up, the entire group was exhausted. I’m telling you, I was sweating profusely, it felt as though I had just played a 90 minute soccer game in 95 degree weather. After an hour of steps, it was obvious what all that hard work was for: the view. It was breath-taking. It was definitely one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. Looking over the edge, you can see the magnitude of the structure. It’s hard to believe that it’s been there as long as it has been. At each post, there are still Chinese officials watching the surrounding areas. The steps were worn but strong and the wall itself still boasts such a great representation of the country’s strength. Going up was a struggle, but coming down from the wall was a completely different story. They had a toboggan chute, a massive steel slide that ran all the way down mountain from the top of the wall. For 40 Yuan (which was roughly $6) you got to ride a cart in which you can control the speed by moving the steering stick forward and backwards. This was a blast. I secretly filmed the whole way down and it was well worth the hour long climb up.

We all met up after some shopping and our guide, Tom brought us to this place called Mountain Bar. It was a restaurant that was snuggled amongst a surrounding mountain equipped with a bar and a full functioning restaurant. It was a heck of a place to be a waitress at that’s for sure. The tables were scattered on ledges and mountain sides. Before the meal we went through a small adventure section of the mountain, a few of the group decided to attempt mountain climbing, which brought some hilarity. Another activity was archery. This, I had to be a part of. So I split the cost with my new friend Derek and we both shot our share of arrows. I went 8/10 as far as arrows hitting the board, not to mention one that got very close to a bullseye. I might just take up archery.


We’re back in our dorms now and although its an early night, we have the Forbidden City to explore tomorrow.