The Great Wall of China (Beijing - day 3)
I booked transportation through the hostel to go to the Great Wall on Thursday so I woke up early Thursday (14 September) morning to begin the journey. There where 6 other travelers on the minibus. It was a 3-hour drive but should have taken 4 hours. The driver was a lunatic passing other cars on the inside and out and generally just driving way too fast. We asked him to slow down once on the way there and again on the way back. Each time he only obliged for a few minutes. I was glad to be off the minibus at each end of the journey.
There are many different sections of the Great Wall that you can visit. I had choosen to do a hike from Jinshanling to Simatai which was supposed to be dramatic and not to crowded. It proved to be both. It was about a 12 to 13 km hike with much ascending and descending; lots and lots of steps. I was surprised at the lack of crowds and really enjoyed the hike. I didn't eat breakfast and brought no food along so I was pretty tired by the end of the 3.5 hours. The weather was overcast and hazy so the views -- and my pictures -- were not as good as they could have been. It was great to hike through the un-restored sections of the wall too, of which probably only 10% of the hike was.
I was impressed with the wall for different reasons than I expected. The wall was not nearly as big in cross section as I expected (makes me wonder who ever made the claim that you could see the great wall from space; what a load of bollocks!). Most of the time it is only 12-15 feet across and maybe that high off the ground. But I was really impressed with the terrain the wall covered. Some sections were really steep and it was impressive to see this wall go straight up the side of a mountain, or traversing a high ridge top. Of course I was also impressed with the length of the wall. It was strange to look off into the distance and still see the wall dragging on. And the views from the wall were absolutely amazing, of course. At the end of the hike I walked the half mile down to the restaurant parking area where I met the other from the mini bus. There is also a zip line from where we got off the wall that goes half way to the parking lot. The others from the minibus chose to ride the zip line (goes across a lake) but I chose to walk. There was a hostel there at the bottom, set on the edge of a small lake. It would have been really cool to stay there and there was more of the wall I could have explored in the area.
I arrived back at the hostel early that evening. The hostel has a washer so I took the chance to wash my sleeping bag. I was concerned that some of the toxins from the poison ivy were still inside my bag as I slept for 3 or 4 nights in it during my poison ivy bout. (don't worry Ken, the washer didn't have an aggitator...)
Later that night (Thursday, 14 September) I went to a free, hour long Chinese language course that the hostel/hotel was offering. I learned that Chinese is an extremely difficult language for me to speak!! I didn't really get that much out of it, unfortunately, because I find Chinese so difficult.
There are many different sections of the Great Wall that you can visit. I had choosen to do a hike from Jinshanling to Simatai which was supposed to be dramatic and not to crowded. It proved to be both. It was about a 12 to 13 km hike with much ascending and descending; lots and lots of steps. I was surprised at the lack of crowds and really enjoyed the hike. I didn't eat breakfast and brought no food along so I was pretty tired by the end of the 3.5 hours. The weather was overcast and hazy so the views -- and my pictures -- were not as good as they could have been. It was great to hike through the un-restored sections of the wall too, of which probably only 10% of the hike was.
I was impressed with the wall for different reasons than I expected. The wall was not nearly as big in cross section as I expected (makes me wonder who ever made the claim that you could see the great wall from space; what a load of bollocks!). Most of the time it is only 12-15 feet across and maybe that high off the ground. But I was really impressed with the terrain the wall covered. Some sections were really steep and it was impressive to see this wall go straight up the side of a mountain, or traversing a high ridge top. Of course I was also impressed with the length of the wall. It was strange to look off into the distance and still see the wall dragging on. And the views from the wall were absolutely amazing, of course. At the end of the hike I walked the half mile down to the restaurant parking area where I met the other from the mini bus. There is also a zip line from where we got off the wall that goes half way to the parking lot. The others from the minibus chose to ride the zip line (goes across a lake) but I chose to walk. There was a hostel there at the bottom, set on the edge of a small lake. It would have been really cool to stay there and there was more of the wall I could have explored in the area.
I arrived back at the hostel early that evening. The hostel has a washer so I took the chance to wash my sleeping bag. I was concerned that some of the toxins from the poison ivy were still inside my bag as I slept for 3 or 4 nights in it during my poison ivy bout. (don't worry Ken, the washer didn't have an aggitator...)
Later that night (Thursday, 14 September) I went to a free, hour long Chinese language course that the hostel/hotel was offering. I learned that Chinese is an extremely difficult language for me to speak!! I didn't really get that much out of it, unfortunately, because I find Chinese so difficult.
posted by Dustin at 4:09 AM
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