New Year's at the Great Wall

Today was the day we have been waiting for, and we weren’t disappointed. Since it had snowed yesterday, we were a little worried that the roads up to the Great Wall might be closed, but they weren’t! After a brief stop at a jade factory (we’ll talk more about these suspicious little side trips later), we drove north to the Badaling section of the Great Wall!

It's hard to see, but the sign says "Beijing 2008: One World, One Dream"

Once the Wall finally came out of hiding from the foggy, snowy surroundings, we were all in awe. When we finally arrived at the site to start walking up the Wall, we were all giddy with anticipation. We were told there were 2 paths we could choose: the one to the right was not as steep, and the one to the left was more challenging. Some chose the easier path, but not us. We were in a very adventurous spirit, so we joined Tim, Inge, Janet, Karen, Paul, Lydia and Joanna, who had to leave us after realizing her shoes were not helpful in scaling the snowy, frozen wall.
Since it is wintertime, and it was very cold, and a little dangerous, the Great Wall wasn’t very crowded. Also, since we chose the more difficult of the two paths, there were even fewer people. It was absolutely amazing! We began our ascent on some stairs, and then there was a small incline, but it was rather challenging due to the conditions. We used the hand rails as best we could. Then we came to some steeper stairs, then a steeper incline. Then we came to the really hazardous part, which was a very steep set of steps that also curved to the right. Also, the steps are not the same height, and the hand railing at this part was very low. Keep in mind that there was also snow on all the steps (about an inch or three), and you can see that we had quite the adventure. It was a lot of fun, though, as we just took our time and helped each other out. We also got quite a laugh when Lydia fell on her backside on a somewhat steep downslope - she wasn’t hurt, so she just slid down as if she were on a sled. She repeated this maneuver several times on the way up the Wall.

Would you believe me if I told you that we walked all the way to the end of the Great Wall? Well, it’s true! We kept getting to the next watch tower, then we would all look at each other and say, “One more?” The answer was always emphatically, “YES!” We were all running on endorphins at this point. We weren’t even cold due to all the exertions. Then we finally arrived at this spot:

Of course, the Great Wall does continue from that point, but it is closed off to the public. Here are some things that you may not know about the Great Wall for your educational fulfillment: first, the Great Wall is not one continuous wall. Secondly, it was not all built at once, but over many years, and by different emperors. Third, it can not be seen from space - a Chinese astronaut recently laid that rumor to rest. Finally, the end of the Great Wall is in the Gobi Desert in the West, and some of the Great Wall is no more than an earthen berm held together with straw.

As you can imagine, we didn’t want to leave the Great Wall. It’s not every day that you get to one of the wonders of the world. As far as describing the experience, I liken it to trying to describe the Grand Canyon to someone else. Words cannot do it justice. Hopefully these pictures help a little bit, but even they can’t begin to show how absolutely incredible and beautiful it was, especially with all the snow. It is just so humbling to be in a country with over 5,000 years of history. We took some good video here, too, including a short segment of Brian and Wendy fighting off the Mongol horde with snowballs…

After the Great Wall, we visited a cloisonné factory and had lunch. Then we went to the Sacred Way, which is where the Ming tombs are, and they have a pretty cool stretch of statues on either side of the path that the emperor’s spirit would go down after he died on his way to heaven to be judged by the animals and honored citizens. We topped off our evening by having a wonderful roast duck dinner at one of the most famous restaurants in Beijing. We found out that they have served over 1.3 million roast ducks since they opened in the mid-to-late 1800s.
Well, Happy New Year, everyone! As I type this to you, it is about 10:30PM Beijing time. Tomorrow we leave for Nanchang, and that means we are just three days away from Sydney!