Amber's Journal: Day 3

Is it a great wall or a nifty wall? Stupendous? Extra gorram shiny? Yes to all.  Today we drove out to see the Great Wall of China...or at least one piece of one of the several walls that protect China.

We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall--Disney takes their tours there as it's a very classic and gorgeous stone section of the wall and less congested than the "as seen on TV" section at Badaling. (I'm all for less other tourists in my way!)

It was a fair ride out to the countryside through a couple quaint little villages, all sorts of fields (including postcard-perfect rice paddies!), and a number of random monuments and odd pieces of artwork.  I assume they put those pieces on this road as it leads to the wall...but they still struck me as whimsical and odd.  Back home they'd be the center piece for a town...but often these statues, monuments, pillars, ect were just sitting in odd places by the side of the road.

We stopped at a converted school for tinkle breaks.  China's falling birthrate meant the school was closed and abandoned--now it's a restaurant, craft center, and tourist center!

Our section of the Wall was on TOP of the local mountain range.  They have a convenient tram system for us fat and lazy gwai lo now...but it's dizzying to think that EVERY BLOCK OF THE WALL WAS CARRIED UP THERE BY ANIMAL AND MANPOWER.  EVERY. DAMN. PIECE.  And it's a lot by skippy. Really a lot.

The Great Wall is epic...words just won't convey how big it is.  It's awe inspiring to stand on a high hilltop/small mountain and look in either way...just to see the Wall running to infinity in either direction.  It seems too big to be built by the hand of man.  This was definitely a "bucket list" day!

After the wall--the ceremonial fleecing of the tourists! (Hee hee!) We went to visit a marketplace at a village next to the wall.  Our guides had carefully coached us on how to say stuff like "Too much!" and to counter prices by lowballing, then working our way up--the goal is to meet somewhere in the middle of their price and your lowball offer.  I regret not living in the golden age of air travel--when you could carry as many suitcases as you like.  I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in the market!  Space restrictions meant I had to pick and choose my souvenirs with care dang it.  We then went back to the schoolhouse for a well deserved lunch--and for medals for surviving the Great Wall of China!  (I may have survived...but the next day my legs claimed to have contracted rigor mortis!) Even though we lazy tourists are carried up...visiting the Wall means a lot of scrambling, climbing and clambering over rough and steep stonework.  If ever you get the chance to go, DO...and be in shape!