Climbing the Great Wall of China

• September 2, 2008
• Rated 5 of 5 by jwelhwel from Indianapolis, Indiana

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The Great Wall

• July 28, 2008
• Rated 5 of 5 by onesundaymorning from Los Angeles, California

If there is one journey to be made in a life time it should be to the Great Wall. Knowing the history of the wall itself is a must before ever even trying to climb it; actually this is essential before visiting any sight with in the Chinese boarders. The Great Wall isn't actually one wall, but more of various segments built by different dynasties. The wall can date back as early as seventh century BCE, and stretches over many thousand miles. It is believed that segments of the wall were built by agricultural towns to ward off nomadic tribes. Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Chinese Emperor, decided to link the walls to create a protective wall. Prior to the Ming dynasty the wall wasn't of much use, and was compromised regularly. It was the Ming Emperors who put effort into maintaining the wall as protection against the Mongols. Once the Manchu rulers can around the 200 years of rebuilding, expanding, and improving the wall were discarded. Even up until recently, during the Cultural Revolution, bricks were taken from the wall to build army barracks. 1984 saw the renewed interest in the wall when much effort went into restoring it.
Currently the Badaling section of the wall remains the most popular, most crowded, and most accessible section of the wall. I traveled to the Mutianyu section just outside of Beijing, past Badaling. Mutianyu was built in the Ming Dynasty and is much less crowed then he Badaling section, but can be dated back much earlier to about 550-577. The drive their was amazing. My bus drove through the mountains and followed along sections of the wall that curved with the mountain and sank into the the mountains rather then carving out sections to make room for the wall. Once off the bus we were given a time frame to meet back up and we all took off. There are two options up; cable cars and climbing. My group choose to climb. We walked past many little shops set up on the way to the stairs to the wall. Each vendor tries to convince you why their items are the best and pushed a business card in my hand to remember to come back. The cards were small pieces of card board with a number written on it. Next up were the people dressed in period costumes who want to take pictures. Another trap; negotiate the price first because nothing in China is free. The hike up is the most scenic, and includes long stretches of steps and steep grades. At one point there is a small area where I stopped to take amazing pictures of the mountains. The top of the stairs dropped us off at Tower 19. my friends and I stopped for some photos of us on the wall, but the group quickly split up due to each of us having different intentions. Mine being that I wanted to see everything. I walked along the wall until I met up with Andy who was stopped by some Chinese residents. They wanted to take pictures with her. She posed for them and we took off. We came to one of the towers and climbed to the top for an amazing view of the land, and to our surprise a goat sitting on the wall. At one point we turned around when we saw signs about a "wild wall" translation: an unrestored section.
With time growing short we began to look for a way down. Initially we were going to use the cable cars, but after following some very confusing signs we ended up at a toboggan. We couldn't resist. The toboggan is a steel run where the carts get easily stuck in some areas causing some sticky situations. Andy took off in front of me and seconds later I was behind here. We meet up in a congested area where two of the macho guys on my tour were going a little two slowly. It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have a crazy German man behind me yelling at me in a very thick German accent "Don't worry, I won't kill you just go faster." My fears subsided when we started moving, but only came back around the next few corners when I saw the traffic jam again and could hear my new found friend behind me coming around the corner screaming. It was the greatest five minutes of my life, and apparently Mr. Germany's life as well because when we got to the bottom he began laughing and taking pictures.

From journal My Cultural Revolution

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The Great Wall

• June 10, 2005
• Rated 3 of 5 by megoizzy from Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Great Wall will always be great. You can't get around that. However, having visited the largest visitor area of the Great Wall in China, I was a little disappointed. Before we actually got onto the wall, we had to pass through a tawdry market village with various and sundry cheap souvenirs.

Once on the Wall, throngs of tourists (mostly Chinese) crowded up and down the length, making it impossible to walk at any particular pace. Once at the top, I discovered they were giving camel rides!

All that aside, the view to be afforded from the Great Wall is spectacular, and even if you have to brave the masses, it's worth seeing.

Take a poncho, just in case you get stuck in a monsoon like we did! Also, be ready for a small workout to get all the way up the open length. It can be quite steep at points, and there are a lot of stairs.

From journal Teaching In China 2004

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