13 November 2011
The great wall
Now for the great wall itself. It costs $5 to go on it. You are immediately faced with a decision, turn left or right. To the right theres cable cars to haul your fat ass up there, a gentle slope and gift shops, I could see roughly 50,000 people. To the left theres warnings about how steep it is, how the steps are 3 feet high in places and how theres no facilities available, I couldnt see anyone! I turned left.
The wall was absolutely fantastic, it was indeed very steep, sections without steps were too steep to walk upright, you have to lean forward and put a hand down. Some sections with steps you need to use your free hand to half pull yourself up.
Every now and then theres a turret section and the views are obviously spectacular. The whole time I was surprised how few people there were on 'my side', maybe 10 people.
It takes about an hour to get to the end of where they let you go, the initial parts are very steep, but then it just becomes undulating. There were so few people I thought maybe I had wandered into an area I shouldnt be in, only an occasional water / fridge magnet seller, who never even bothered me, convinced me that I wasnt out of bounds.
Looking towards the busy section of the wall from the start of the non busy section.
The wall stretches across the full horizon, its not all open to the public though.
Here I am at the top of the steep bit, looking across the canyon.
You cant really see it, but off in the distance is a big city, on a giant plain, then what looks like huge mountains behind it which you can just see on the horizon here.
The great wall village of Badaling below.
More view
Like I said, I have the wall to myself.
Generally its very peaceful and quiet, until some lazy tourists couldnt be bothered walking at all and rented a helicopter to annoy everyone with.
Staring directly into the heart of the sun.
I think I am at the end of the section they let you on here.
Close up of wall.
Its me in my snazzy new jacket. Its not nearly black enough.
I shouted a series of insults at the top of my lungs in fluent mandarin.
Photo number 300!
I have done my best here to illustrate how steep it is going down, showing this in photos never really works.