It's day two of our guided tour, and our tour guide Henry leads us to what is by far the greatest expectation for the group thus far, the Great Wall of China. The part of the wall that we visited on Saturday was about two hours outside the city proper, but I'm not sure where that really means because Beijing is so huge that we barely left the buildings behind when we could see the wall. Henry gave us a brief history of the wall's importance in Chinese culture, but it was hard to listen to him with the wall so close. Few times in my life have I been lost for words, but seeing this relic, one that has been discussed so much even in America, it was beyond speaking. Or listening to Henry.
We were worried that seeing the wall would become a difficult process as we approached, since the entrance was crowded with what looked like all 17 million residents of Beijing. We learned that half of the wall (or that section) was shut down that day because the president of Mexico was visiting that day. However, we made our way up through the crowd and began our ascent of the wall.
OK, before I get any farther, I forgot to mention something. This day, this particular day that we were going to visit one of the greatest sites in all of China, was by far one of the best days that Beijing has ever seen. Now I know I have no basis for that opinion in my whole week of living in the city, but it was as gorgeous a day that I have ever seen, anywhere. Clear sky, bright sun, and no smog to be seen. To get an idea of the comparison, I'll post a pic from earlier in the week of a typical day in Tiananmen Square with this day's photos.
OK, back to the climb, and I do mean climb. Right off the bat, it's a 60 degree incline up the side of the wall, which I kinda forgot in the excitement of the moment, goes up the side of a MOUNTAIN. Then it would level off for a fort structure, then another incline, and proceeded as such until we reached the highest fort on that particular part of the wall. For some reason I'm not too sure on now, we had decided as a group, without any type of discussion or such, to book it up the wall as fast as we could. It was a good time, but it was a relief to see that final step lead into a building on the top of the mountain that had no business being as cold as it was on a day that hit 100 degrees fahrenheit.
At the top, we rested in the cool confines, out of the sun in a room and enjoying the breeze that would blow through the giant windows around the room. I'm kind of a sucker for a good view, and I've seen my fair share of mountain vistas, but this view was one for the record books. The trip down would end up being just as eventful as the ascent, as the uneven stairs made footing tricky at best.
After the trip to the Great Wall, the group hopped on the bus, again, for a trip to the Ming Tombs, the resting place of some ancient rulers in Chinese history. The above ground areas of the tomb were nice, with gardens and several rising stair cases, and the tombs were a fantastic view into the Chinese culture, but even the tombs had a hard time living up to the wall at its best.
I've been focusing on the individual sites we've visited in the past couple days, but our time outside of the tour has not been uneventful. We've seen the Forbidden City on our own time, and have found time to bond with our fellow volunteers, the Australian contingent that we also share a building with. We've had a chance to dine at some of the best restaurants in Beijing because of the tour, and have fun dishes that we all like, and a couple that we intend to steer away from. I plan on posting soon about more day to day affairs of our first week, so watch for that.
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