The Great Wall of China!!

We left our dorm at 8:30 this morning for the wall. We drove about 1.5 hours to reach the site. We could have gone to a stretch of wall closer to Beijing but we wanted to go to a less "touristy" and crowded section. We traveled through a few smaller villages on our way. These were very interesting to see with some of them having traditional Chinese architecture.

Once we got to the wall we began climbing. We were all anxious to get to the top. About 1,000 steps later we made it to the wall! It was amazing. Being on top of a structure that has so much history was such a cool experience.

The Great Wall of China

On the wall we all split up into three groups. Susan, Greg and Dr. Burgess went ahead and ran the farthest along the Great Wall all the way until they couldn't go any further because the wall was crumbling. Then most of us (Lena, Wenjie, Justin, Ana, Wenisa, Katie, Laura and I accompanied by the three students from Peking University, Monica, Chin and Alice) went at a moderate pace along the wall. And Anh, Manas and Alex took their time along the wall. We all had an amazing experience.

Wenjie on the wall

Wow!

If one word could sum it up this would be it. This was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. It is amazing to me how the ancient Chinese built this huge beautiful wall along the top of a mountain!

On the way down some of us decided to take the tobaggon down. This was so cool. It was a metal slide down the mountain side. And we sat on plastic sleds with a handle for a brake and just slid down the mountain side. It was so much fun.

Dr. Burgess followed by Wenisa preparing to take the toboggan ride

Zai jian!