I can now cross off one of the 7 wonders of the world off of my sights to see! Today we visited the Great Wall, a 10,000 km (6,000 mi) long defensive wall, going east to west in Northern China, about an hour outside of Beijing. The Great Wall was built under the supervision of General Xu Da of Emperor Zhu Yhuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty. The part of the Wall we climbed was built on a 1,000 m (~3,000 ft) tall mountain ridge. While up there, we climbed the area known as “arrow nock,” which was laid on a precipitous cliff. The view from the wall was literally breathtaking. As we climbed higher and higher, we could see further and further into the distance. It is easily one of the most satisfying experiences in my life so far.
We stayed on the wall for about 3 hours. The most fun part of the wall was the mountain slide going down the mountain. It was about 10 dollars to ride it, but after walking and climbing for 3 hours, it was easily worth it. We rode down on a toboggan sled with a brake, and it took about 90 seconds to reach the bottom. For some of the turns we were forced to slow down because they didn’t want anyone to fall off midway down the mountain. After we got to the bottom, we shopped for about a ½ hour. The shops were negotiable on price, and I got some stuff at 1/10 the original price.
After another hour long bus ride, we ate lunch/dinner at an American style buffet. It wasn’t very good, and I actually wanted to eat at a normal restaurant. Tomorrow we have a free day, so we are planning on going to either the silk market or pearl market, both, the water cube, a kung-fu show, or a combination of those. It will be a big shopping day all around.
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