Walking on the Great Wall of China
One of the many photos of the Great Wall
I spent my second day in Beijing at one of the best places on the planet – The Great Wall of China. If you have only a limited time in Beijing, you must dedicate most of a day to seeing the Great Wall because you really can spend a whole day visiting the wall and feel like you still haven’t accomplished much. Lucky for me, I had 6 days in Beijing so it’s not like I was going to have to make hard choices about what to see in Beijing.
When I first decided to visit China, I knew I had to see the Great Wall. I could not imagine the looks I would get from people back home if I went to China and said that I didn’t see the Great Wall. After seeing the Great Wall for the first time, I now realize that every subsequent trip I take to China will have to involve a trip to a different spot of the Great Wall. Before staring blankly into your screen, realize that the Great Wall stretches for over 8,800KM (5,500 Miles) and has many sections to visit.
I was lucky that I didn’t have worry about getting to the Great Wall of China. My Chinese friend arranged with one of her friends to drive me to a section near Beijing. I understand from talking to other travelers that you can get to different sections of the Great Wall via public bus and taxis. I certainly appreciated my Chinese friends helping me out.
After about a 1-1.5 hour drive outside of Beijing, I arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Now, many guidebooks will call this the most “touristy” section of the Great Wall and I will say that there was a lot of people, but I was thankful to just be on the Great Wall. I was visiting Badaling on a weekday which reduced the amount of people there. I understand it does get busy on the weekends though. Also, even though there was a lot of people at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, I was able to hike to certain sections of the Wall where there was very few people. So it is possible to get away from people even at the busiest section of the Great Wall.
So what’s it like to be on the Great Wall? The Wall is not built in a straight line. It curves in many sections and walking on it is more up and down and has slopes rather than a nice leisurely flat walk. For those who like to work out, hiking on the wall was a nice workout. One of the amazing things about the Wall is how well it has stood the test of time. I’m sure this is different for other sections, but it is built in the mountains just outside Beijing. The wall reaches a height of 25 feet or about 7.8 meters and 16 feet or 5 meters wide at Badaling. The feat of engineering that the Chinese did in building the Great Wall is truly amazing.
The Wall is no "walk in the park"
It really is hard to describe just why the Great Wall is so “great”. Unfortunately, my post can not even begin to do justice to the experience of standing on the Great Wall. I could share facts like the Great Wall has been designated as one of the new 7 wonders of the world, but that still does not adequately describe it. The Great Wall seems like it is never ending. Every time I reached a top of one section, there was always more Wall around the corner and in the distance. As I stopped and took photos from different points of the Wall, I tried to take in the beauty of the surroundings and admire the work that it must have took to actually build this wall. As I walked along, I thought about how something like the Great Wall would never be built today just due to how much something like the Wall would cost to build. Doing further research, I learned that the Chinese builders tried to use local resources as much as possible to reduce the expense of building the Wall.
Official Designation as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World
The Great Wall really does not End
I close this post by saying the Great Wall is truly an awesome and “great” structure. It is a unique and once in a lifetime structure that will never be replicated again. One thing that I’ve learned in my trip in China is that the Chinese imagination for building things on a grand scheme is one of a kind in itself.
Take a look at the rest of my photos in my Great Wall of China Gallery.
If you liked this post, please share it by clicking one of the Share and Enjoy buttons below!
- China Trip Update - my visa is here! Since I've received my visa, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to spend some time talking about why China is my next destination. Ever since I started traveling to different countries, I have always wanted to visit China. I think it has something to do with seeing......
- Another interesting Link --> Begin With a Single Step: Escape from Cubicle Hell Begin With a Single Step: Escape from Cubicle Hell. I just had to share and post this link. I saw this article on one of the travel blogs I subscribe to in my google reader. This guy is pretty much spot on - why should people spend the best part......
- My first night in Beijing: Visiting the Bird's Nest and Watercube As I took my photos and got some exercise from the walk, I approached the main walkway of the Olympic Green. Later in talking with some Chinese people, I learned that this was the area that was full of people during the 2008 games. On this night, probably due......
- 15 Days to China... One of the things that helped make that made me say, "China is my next destination" was the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Seeing the "Water Cube" and "Bird's Nest" on television made me thing to myself that I should get over there and see them in person. Adding to that......
- Twin Cities Restaurant Review - Enjoy Restaurant in Apple Valley, MN On Saturday, June 13, A friend and myself at a restaurant called Enjoy. I admit I am a city person so I probably would have never gone to this restaurant myself, but my friend insisted on driving somewhere and she had one of those 2 for 1 entertainment coupons. The......
Related Websites
- Useful Wedding Registry Items [/caption] Cuisinart Toaster Cuisinart Griddle Since I am hoping that this blog appeals married women as well as soon to be married women, I felt that it was my duty to share some of my wedding registry favorites*. It's been almost a year since my shower and I......
- Top 10 Travel Destinations of 2010 [/caption] Every year the travel book supergiant Lonely Planet releases its list of the coming year’s top travel locations, from new trends, to the classic vacation spots that have always been popular with tourists. Their top 10 list of the best destinations of 2010 held some a few surprises, and......
- Weekly Roundup: The Showdown Edition In case you missed the Twitter/Facebook notes, I'm in a blogger showdown with Clever Dude over at Budgets Are Sexy. Check out the interview responses if you'd like to learn a little more about either of us, and of course, vote for your favorite. Hope everyone is enjoying the current......
- Sex and The City 2: It rocked. Forget the negative reviews. [/caption] Sex and The City 2: It rocked. Forget the Negative Reviews! The girls are back!!! If you want to know what went around in the show, check out the tv show trivia and if you need to remember what went on in the first movie, visit Sex and The......
- 9/11 Truth and Reality Hacking 9/11 Truth, loony conspiracy theory or actual conspiracy? The official 9/11 report doesn't explain much at all and what it does explain is dubious (or insulting). This is where the conspiracy 'theories' come in. There's unanswered questions and assertions being made by the Government that seem to defy logic and/or......
