The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China, originally uploaded by sazztastical.

Yes we finally got there! After more than two weeks in China we got to visit the Great Wall.

It's just spectacular. That's the only way to describe it. We got a taxi from our hotel in Beijing to the section of wall in Mutianyu. It's about 55 miles north of Beijing and the second most popular part of the wall for visitors to go to. So we figured that that actually meant that hundreds, probably thousands, of people go there everyday so we did the sensible thing. We realised that most people go as part of a tour group and the tours don't leave Beijing until 9am. So we got up at 5 and left Beijing 3 hours earlier than them and I'm so glad we did. It was the best decision we've made all holiday.

We got there at 7.30am - it opens at 7 - and we didn't see another soul until about 8.30. We got a cable car up - more like a ski lift actually - one of those ones you have to jump on while it's moving and then just dangle your feet over the edge until the end when a little Chinese bloke grabbed us and unceremoniously dragged us off so we didn't end up going back down to the bottom again.

Once up there we were approached by a bloke who we though was some sort of ranger - he spoke to us in good english, took our photo with our camera and talked to us about the wall for a bit, saying how beautiful it was. After about 5 minutes of chatting he asked if we'd like to buy some carved walnuts his brother had made. Yeah right. Unless his brother has a plastics factory somewhere in Beijing I doubt very much that his brother carved them by hand... Needless to say we got two and were pleased to see, when we reached the bottom later on - that his brother had been very hard at work and they were indeed available on every souvenir stall we passed - all 100 of them!

However the wall itself is far harder work than I had envisioned. It climbs up and down - really steeply - in a lot of places and although this section of the wall has been renovated so it's 'safer' for visitors, there are still parts of it that you literally have to climb up on all fours.

Another good reason for getting there early was the heat. By half 8 it was already scorching hot and with all the climbing we were doing it felt hotter than anything we'd been walking in whilst we've been here. In fact we've had the best weather since we've been in China - we have only seen rain once, on our last night in Shanghai when England played Germany. Apart from that - it's been bright sunshine the whole time.

So the Wall itself is very difficult to describe really - it is just that - a huge huge wall stretching for 4000 miles. A lot of it is dilapidated and unpassable but some parts, like the bit we visited, have been restored and you can get an idea of what it was once like the whole way along. It really is just incredible and both of us could have just stood and looked at it for hours as it twisted and turned over mountain ridges. Every now and then, you'd catch sight of another watchtower way off in the distance on a peak and you'd realise that it's just another part of it and it's all connected.

The only problem is, with all the pollution in Beijing, and China in general, you can't see half the mountains you should be able to see for the haze - it really is that bad. You can see it in the air - or really it's more what you can't see that makes you realise how bad it is. Both of us were wheezing climbing up the Wall yesterday and you can feel it on your chest all of the time. I don't know what they are going to do in time for the Olympics but they need to sort it quickly or the athletes are all going to suffer.