Day 12 - The Great Wall of China

What a day! We started out at 9:30 and drove just under two hours to a fairly remote section of the Great Wall. As we left the city and approached the wall we could see jaggedy mountain and bits of the wall as it snaked its wall across the highest points of each mountain. From the parking lot at the bottom we still had to climb a steep cobble stone road to many, many steps before we could access the cable car that would take us most of the way to the top. For many able bodied people this is a hard breathing climb, but for us it had its own unique challenges. The only male in our group of eight certainly had his work cut out for him as the remaining seven females consisted of four children age 3, 5, 7 and 11, two middle aged women each with their own aches and weaknesses and one middle aged very fit, but confined to a wheelchair, woman. As Christo pushed Marg up the gauntlet of aggressive souvenir sellers we sucked in the cleanest air so far this trip as we panted our way to the bottom of the stairs. The stairs presented yet another enthusiastic challenge for our group as Christo and I carried Marg and chair up to the landing pad of the cable car, while Steph herded our group of girls up.

The cable car was great fun. Once again Steph and young females took one car, while Christo carried Marg and I carried chair into the cable car ridden in by none other than Bill Clinton on his visit to the same locale. On arriving at the top of the pretty ride we were presented with more stairs to the lookout just beneath the wall itself. Huffing and puffing and quite pleased with ourselves we all gazed out in wonder as we unpopped our ears and took in the fantastically rough vista. Then it was the stairs of the wall itself. Each step was a different height and sometimes more then knee height in rise. I realised that I couldn't help Christo with this task so he put Marg on his back and the two of them laughed their way up the difficult rise. I carried the chair and Steph herded the girls who climbed any way the could up the stairs and onto the wall itself. We made it! And it was well worth the effort. We all glowed with our accomplishment and marvelled at how the Mongols could possibly have overcome the 2400km long towering wall through this unbelievably harsh terrain.

Walking along the wall was an almost spiritual experience. Because of the time of year and the weather there were few other walkers besides ourselves and I could hear each of my footfalls and the swish of my bag as I gingerly stepped up and down the ramps, steps and ladders. The cool clear air was invigorating and the view of the Wall stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction was amazing. Too soon the children had had enough and we all made our way for the equally exciting challenge of getting down. Despite the cold Christo peeled off his outer coverings and carried Marg first on his back and then in her chair down the hundreds of stairs, in and out of the cable car, and down the incredibly steep cobbled road to the bottom. We were all thrilled about our excursion and stopped along the way at a pretty restaurant to talk about it.

Upon returning to Beijing the other three adults headed off to the Markets to complete their Christmas and family gift shopping while I took the four girls swimming. And now three hours later we are getting ready to head off to our favourite Mongolian restaurant. A fitting place to spend the evening given the events of the day.

Take care and see you soon.