The Wall

I don't know what to say about The Great Wall of China that hasn't been said a million times before. Some say it is nothing short of amazing. Others call it a very nice hike. I found it to be somewhere in the middle. The history of the Wall itself is quite fascinating, but you can read about that somewhere else. I won't rehash what's in every guidebook or website on China except to say that there are only four sections that are officially open to the public. Eschewing the most touristy section of Badaling, I joined a daytrip from my hotel to hike the section from Jinshanling to Si Ma Tai. Arriving at a small village in the shadow of the Wall and turrets, we were 'escorted' by local minority ladies up the steep path to the Wall itself and for as far along the hike as they deemed necessary to pitch their tourbooks and other trinkets.

With unwanted guide in tow, I climbed over rocks and steps, from lookout to lookout that pattern the dusty expanse of the Wall. Some sections were steep enough to put me on all fours for fear of falling and wondering what it was like to be an enemy Mongol hundreds of years ago trying to climb to the top.

It was a very hazy and overcast day, as all my days in China had been, and you could only see about 40 miles or so into the distance, into Inner Mongolia. Still, I was taken back by the curving path of the Wall, up and down the steep landscape, like a dragon resting among the hills with one eye always open.

I reluctantly bought a book from my guide, who was frustrated by my attempts to dissuade by her by ignoring all offers of shortcuts. I figured if she wasn't strong enough to walk with me, she wasn't deserving of my yuan, but she trudged along and I figured 110 yuan was worth the price of finishing the hike alone -- just me, my thoughts and the Wall.

And 2000 years of history.