The Great Wall

After making an obligatory stop at yet another jade factory, we headed up to the Great Wall along with the other two people in our group - an Israeli private detective/scuba diving instructor and his wife. Apparently, Beijing's section of the wall is the best preserved, but it also seems to be the steepest. The main section open to tourists goes straight up the mountain.

It's a long way up





Ascending the Great Wall was similar to climbing the Chief in Squamish in terms of difficulty, only I felt like I was in much better shape this time. It helps that the majority of people climbing with you are older tourists; huffing, puffing, and sweating their way up the stairs with me just breezing steadily past them. When you're climbing the Chief, however, most of your contemporaries seem to be young and ridiculously fit athletes who actually enjoy hiking and are out to be beat some crazy time. So yes, it's kind of cheap, but climbing with those weaker than me gave me a great mental boost. Coming down was even better, as we were fairly flying past others who were literally sliding down on the hands and behind.

Just look at that smug mug



Views from the top





I've got to say that the Wall's up there in terms of awesomeness with Chengdu's pandas (though pandas are awesome and attractive) and Kunming's Stone Forest. Walking up that ancient structure that I've heard so much about was an incredible experience that afforded some amazing views. I could peer over the edge of the Wall and just imagine invaders attacking hundreds of years ago. Considering what a tourist destination it is, I was surprised at how original and natural it was overall.

Rebelliously striding along the Great Wall




I don't think my sister appreciated the Wall as much as I did and will likely remember her popsicle more than anything




I'm glad I got to see this in my lifetime



After that, we went for lunch, drank tea, stopped by the Silk Museum, had another foot massage/lecture at some Olympic facility, then went to snap a few photos outside the Olympic Stadium.

This is called a 'pee-boy.' You pour water on it and it measures the water's temperature by the length of the 'pee' stream




A kite




So much cheesey-lah