THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

2 July
GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Our guide picked us up at 6.40AM and we joined another 36 people on a 3-hours bus ride to the Jinshangling part of the Great Wall of China.It was a hot sunny day and guess what you can see the blue sky! As soon as you get out of Beijing, you can see the sky! Wohooo!We ventured out on a 4 hours trek to from the Jinshangling to Simaitai part of the Great Wall. This is the not-so-touristy walk and takes you to the original old Great Wall (the part of the Great Wall which is mostly visited by tourists is the Badaling Great Wall, which is the new rebuilt wall, which has better and safer walking path.) We wanted to walk on the old original part. It is a 10 km walk up steep steps constantly going up and down up and down. It is hard work in the heat and at times slippery. The wall is magnificent. It is set in the hills and just goes on and on and on. The views are gorgeous. As we got to the end of our trek, there were two options, either you walk another 25 minutes or you take a slide (strapped to a cable and your hands holding a rope, sliding from one end of a hill to the other side) across the river. Amit and I went on the slide together - it was fun! Felt a sense of achievement today - very much enjoyed the trek on the wall.