"Great" is an understatement...

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Although the Great Wall stretches across Northern China for over 4,000 miles (from the Northeast Yellow Sea westward across the entire country to Gansu province) there are only a handful of select locations that have been fully restored and offer breathtaking views, fewer tourists, and give you a chance to be alone with your thoughts while literally walking on what some consider one of the Seven Wonders of the World (it depends on whose list you like). One of these spots happens to be about an hour outside of Beijing, called Badaling. We left early in the morning for the bus stop, hopped on the 919, and planned to spend the whole day fulfilling one of our (and mine especially) dreams; trekking on the Great Wall of China.

The bus ride was not especially interesting but the scenery was an improvement over the barren, ramshackle countryside we were used to seeing on the trains. The ride began on flat land and then opened up after awhile giving us hills and eventually turning into impressive mountain vistas. You can't see the wall until the last ten minutes or so in the ride but once you get a glimpse you can see it is magnificent. We got tickets (40rmb = $5.75) and tried to ignore the constant barrage of vendors hawking everything from imitation bronze medals to raccoon hats with a red star in the middle, although Jenn did break down and get a t-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

We had been reading about the Wall for over a year now and knew to be prepared with layers of clothes, plenty of liquids, and be ready for steep climbs and dangerous steps - and they weren't kidding! We also knew that we could go either East or West for a few minutes and the crowds would thin out and we could see the wall without the throngs of tourists we wanted desperately to be away from for at least a little while. The book that Jack (Jenn's stepfather in Bonita Springs, Florida), Eyewitness Travel Guide's: China, could not have been more right about both of these tips and I highly recommend this book to anyone with a passion for traveling. Thanks for the great book, Jack!

Instead of starting out tackling the 1200 meter hike almost straight up the mountain, we opted

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to ride the cable car and save our energy for walking the wall itself. This too was a good decision and the cable car turned out to be quick and in less than ten minutes our boots were shuffling along the Great Wall of China. We were shuffling because you simply could not walk - it was too crowded! We pushed, and shoved, and flattened ourselves when necessary, but all we could see were coats, scarves, black shoes, and many, many little heads also scrambling for space. It was like a bad Disney ride! We managed to pop our heads up at a small peak, looked around exasperated, then decided to head East. With our heads down now, we began climbing. After 15 - 25 minutes the crowds had indeed thinned out and although we were gasping for breath, we started to relax and enjoy ourselves and appreciate the experience. We stopped for a drink and gazed out at the wall as it snaked up and down hills and valleys for as far as we could see. The color never changes, it's a lighter shade of stone slabs and bricks and we chatted about how soldiers used smoke, flares, drums, and bells to communicate along what seemed like it's infinite length. We eyed the ramparts, over the watchtowers spaced two arrow shots apart to leave no section unprotected, up the carriageways and eventually spotted the highest tower we could see - several miles out into the countryside. That's where we wanted to be.

The wall is in remarkable shape considering the amount of people trampling over it everyday, along with constant exposure to the elements, but our chuckles faded into grimaces as we navigated up hills so steep you could bend forward and crawl on all fours easily, and then braced for drops so steep the steps were literally on top of each other. The wall is about 26ft. high and about 21 ft. wide and we joked as we looked over the side that you don't walk the Great Wall of China - you Climb it!

Some parts invited slips and falls that would break bones easily and in other areas a slip could cause much worse. The stones were so smooth they were like walking on wet pavement and the builders only used steps when absolutely necessary, so the backside of a particularly steep pass presented only a smooth sidewalk of sorts to shuffle down as carefully as you could. We saw people without hiking boots sliding down on their butts to maintain control in some areas. We realized after a while that they make it easy for everyone to enjoy it around the first tower area but if you want to really climb the wall as it was designed - you need to be in good shape, have hiking boots on, and you do so at your own risk. There were very few kids or older people near the areas we were climbing.

It was no surprise then, when we walked inside one of the towers far away from the crowds and saw a small phone booth with SOS painted on it. They aren't kidding. It was a surprise however, that in one of the towers we met our first watchman. He was an old man (at least 75), wearing a green camouflage outfit with skin so leathered

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he looked like a football with a few teeth for seams. As we whispered to ourselves in amazement that he was able to get up here every morning and walk home via Great Wall every night, he smiled at us, then laughed with us, and offered to take our pictures. Although we could not understand anything each of us was saying, he made our short visit memorable with his laughter and friendliness and as we left he stood in a stone window and waved at us for several minutes. This happened regularly as we walked, what few people we encountered would say hello and ask if they could take a picture with us (we are trying to get used to this as it happens almost everywhere we go now).

We eventually made it up to the tower we had seen over two hours before and once we could go no further, we sat in the cold sun and tried to take it all in - to relax. We took more pictures of each other, talked about how cool it is that we are actually here realizing a dream we've talked about for as long as we've known each other, and then we silently walked away from each other so we could each enjoy the wall by ourselves. I tried to slow my heart down a bit and enjoy the

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moment and ended up thinking of my daughters and how they would enjoy it here too. I thought about my family and wished my brothers could see what I was seeing and how I would do my best to write about it later. I thought about this country and these people and their struggles and how I am visiting in the middle of a massive progression and transformation. I tried to relate to the millions of Chinese who worked on building this stone creature for hundreds and hundreds of lifetimes, much longer than my own country has even existed, and that's where the understanding begins to break down. How much of the wall did they build in the amount of time the USA has been on a map? The time lines began to blur and comparisons between people's and republics and countries and continents became nugatory.

Yes, I'm a stranger here, a foreigner, just another tourist dropping in on history but anyone who knows me knows that I consider myself lucky to be able to live here if only for a year. The Great Wall is just a wall after all, and it wasn't even effective really, it was breached by the Mongols in 13th century and the Manchu in the 17th century - but it will take your breath away in more ways than one. It is not just an everyday artifact in a civilization that has over 4,500 years of treasures and culture to explore and appreciate, and I try to understand working on and off on anything for 1,400 years! It did make me feel small, although not insignificant, much like gazing into a sky full of stars and just appreciating the fact that you are alive and breathing and living everyday as much as possible. It's only when I stop trying to understand it all that I will become insignificant. I contemplated on the effort and determination it took to build this beast a little longer, and the million men serving on the wall at one time, and then the cold began biting again and I felt it was time to go.

Sitting on the Great Wall of China was like dropping in, not just on history, but humanity itself. That realization, combined with the desire to try to understand and appreciate the experience, confirmed why I was traveling and living in China in the first place. It truly is one of the great wonders of the world.

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