The Great Wall of China

Today is one of those days that I will remember for the rest of my life. 

I visited the Great Wall of China!!!! But we didn't just visit it, we conquered it. My classmates and I hiked along the Great Wall for over four hours, climbing up the steepest of stairs and overlooking some of the most breathtaking landscape in China.

We took a two hour bus ride outside of Beijing to Simatai Great Wall in Gubeikou Town to the northeast of Miyun, Beijing. We chose to visit the 

Simatai Great Wall section because it is out in the middle of nowhere, and thus very far away from tourists. It is the only part of the Great Wall that has the original features of the Ming Dynasty well reserved. This section consists of 20 watchtowers covering peaks over 1000 meters high! Deep in the valley,  there are two springs called Mandarin Duck Springs. The west spring is warm and the east spring is cold. They join in the middle, creating one lake that is half warm and half cold. At the end of the day, I zip lined off of the Great Wall, over the lake, and landing in the valley at the base of the mountains.

Hiking along the Great Wall was such an incredible experience. I love how the Great Wall was built along the very highest ridges of the mountains. It is unbelievable how these walls were built, starting as early as the 5th century B.C., without modern machinery! It is so high up, so far away from the city. How did ancient China get all of the man power to accomplish such a feat? I suppose the threat of invasion by nomadic tribes like the Mongols is reason enough.

The climb along the Great Wall was so steep!! It must've been insane during an attack. I can't imagine a warrior running up and down the wall in armor with weapons during a invasion. It must've been very dangerous. I was slipping and falling myself, and I was moving slowly! I also thought that the watchtowers were so neat! It was cool to imagine warriors living in the towers and scanning the horizon for invaders. Seeing the watchtowers along the ridges reminded me of the scene in the movie Mulan when the warning torches are lit across the Great Wall, alerting China of approaching enemies. How incredible!

The engineering on the Great Wall was interesting. As mentioned before, mobility is extremely difficult along the wall. The steps are uneven, slippery, and steep. However, I thought that the engineers did a fine job of dealing with water along the wall when it rains. Imagine a section of the wall that slopes 30 degrees upward. Imagine water rushing down the wall. Dangerous, right? So the engineers built raised stone ledges every ten steps or so that catch the water and funnel it out a hole on the side of the wall. It was kind of like a rain gutter catching water along the roof of a house. During a rain storm, I'm sure the Great Wall looked like it was crying with water spouting out from both sides, kind of like how a boat empties its ballast tanks. The only problem would occur in very heavy rains when large amounts of water could spill over the ledge if couldn't be funneled off the wall fast enough. Maybe one day I will see how the wall works when it rains heavily, but I'm glad that today it did not rain. It was cloudy today though, which made me sad because the views were not as far and crisp as I would've liked. However, the cloud cover kept the temperature very cool and enjoyable.

I left the Great Wall with the hopes that someday I would return. There are bricks in the wall that have Chinese inscriptions on them. Many of the bricks on the wall are engraved with Chinese characters that say the date when and the factory where the bricks were made all those thousands of years ago.

When we returned to campus, Caroline, Gabby, and I met up with Susan, my local friend I had met at the university. Susan took us on our bikes to the weight room that she had found for us. She translated for us and helped us get a tour of the facility and apply for a club membership and get our questions answered. She was so wonderful to help us out so much. I'm so glad that I met her. We will start going to the weight room on Monday, and I'm also interested in taking some of the classes they provide for free with membership, such as yoga, pilates, aerobics, and dancing. It looks fun! I must say though... we will be the only girls lifting weights. The Chinese boys on my trip have explained to me the differences in what Americans and the Chinese find attractive in women. Americans like tan and toned women, whereas the Chinese like light-skinned and softer women. It makes sense, and you can totally tell. Women in China are so thin and tiny, and they carry umbrellas at all time to shield themselves from the sunlight. Crazy. 

Ahhhhh what a wonderful day :)