The Great Wall of China

Trip Start Jun 30, 2009
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28
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Trip End Ongoing


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Monday, October 5, 2009

On our final day together we went to the Great Wall of China. After a 5.30AM start (ouch!) we were driven out to Simatai, about a three hour drive from Beijing, to the start of the wall. There are sections of the wall that are nearer to Beijing, but these apparently get really congested and the Simatai section is more spectacular. This was obvious from the moment we got our first glimpse of the wall from the bus; it stands at the top of the mountains snaking across into the distance and is just breath taking to look at. 

We arrived at the Wall at about 9am and were given four and a half hours to go from Stages 1 to 12 and back again. After a somewhat precarious cable car ride, followed by a venicular railway and a pretty steep scramble, I was on the Wall! 

The section of the wall that we climbed was very well preserved at the bottom with steps and steep walls either side, but beyond about Stage 4 the steps turned into steep slopes and the walls keeping you from plunging over the edge and down the mountainside, fell away First glimpse!
First glimpse!
 . I don't think I've ever felt so exposed; trying to negotiate passing other people on the wall was a fairly precarious business near the top, especially when you only have the use of one arm to grab onto anything!

It's impossible to describe the view from the Great Wall, it's just beyond stunning. The Wall just stretches for miles and miles into the distance across some of the most beautiful countryside ever. I have to say that the Great Wall of China has to be my top moment/place so far this trip. It's one of those experiences in life that is truly breathtaking. 

We came back from the Great Wall via the Olympic Park and the Birds nest Stadium and Water cube. Being in an Olympic Park after the Olympics have been and gone is a bit like going to a party that's obviously so over! I remember feeling like that when I went out to the Sydney Olympic Park a couple of years ago, the whole place was like a ghost town. Tomic our guide asked us Brits how we were going to beat the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony? Answer: no comment! It's a heck of a lot easier to organise and produce an Olympic Games when you've got a completely compliant population of 1 billion at your disposal and an infinite budget. 

For our final group dinner we had Peking Duck and then headed out to see the Beijing Acrobats. I have to say I found this slightly disappointing and it didn't help that we seemed to have gone on the night of disastrous mishaps, as no less than three times, the acrobats took tumbles off various equipment!
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