PHOTOS OF CHINA’S GREAT WALL
Exploring the Great Wall of China is one of the few things I really like when I travel in China.
After arriving in Beijing, I carried out extensive research, including asking the person next to me which section of the Great Wall he had climbed and whether it was completely awesome. I booked a trip to Mutianyu on the next day.
The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is known as one of the best preserved sections. It is about two kilometers long and has 22 watchtowers along the way.
My alarm clock sounded at 5:00 in the morning. I immediately turned over and fumbled and said, “No, thank you, Great Wall.”. I finally forced myself to get out of bed and go outside to accept the egg sandwich given by the guide.
It took about two hours to reach the Great Wall. When I learned that we had to take the cable car to the Great Wall, I was not excited because I had acrophobia or anything moving. However, my excitement increased when I found that we could take a sled down at the end.
Our tour group was assigned four hours to walk on the Great Wall — my friend and I were very disappointed at the news at first, but later when we realized how difficult it was, we were very grateful.
The road was unexpectedly difficult.
I once had such a romantic idea: I would dance gracefully along the Great Wall during the whole trip, with daisies in my hair and rose petals falling from the sky. I will spend a lot of time carrying out ancient Chinese rituals, and then meet strange old Chinese people. They will put their hats on my head and show me pictures.
Only one of these things really happened.
At that time, I was not used to the continuous high temperature of 30 degrees, so it was very difficult for me to go anywhere without feeling that I had died due to severe water loss. When you consider that there is no flat part of the Great Wall — you either go up or down, I began to realize that I might join the ranks of millions of people who died when building the Great Wall.
Although in the past few months, I have been carrying a backpack and spent a lot of time walking in the road, I was surprised to realize that since leaving the UK, my physical fitness seems to have actually declined.
Therefore, I spent 95% of my time sweating on the city wall, draining every milliliter of liquid from my body, and the remaining 5% was used to take pictures of the city wall.
Once I recover from heat exhaustion and dehydration the next day, I can review my experience on the Great Wall, forget all the pain and stress, and remember that this is a truly amazing day, and I am very happy to do it.
I spent a lot of time on the Great Wall to reflect on my travel so far. I can’t believe my plan has changed a lot from my original schedule. I can’t wait to see what will happen in the future. The Great Wall of China made me realize how much I enjoyed my time in Asia, and let me really think whether I still want to go to Australia. We’ll see what happens.
I would like to return to China at some time to explore a new part of the Great Wall, especially in winter, and see how it is compared.