Ever since I was a kid, I was fed the lie everyone knows about- “You can see the Great Wall of China from Space!”. And even if you couldn’t, I’m sure you could make out its shape somewhere above the atmosphere, because it sure is a wonderful sight. We went there on one of our weekend excursions (terrifyingly early but when your first class every day is at 9am then you adapt)- and we hiked on the Mutianyu section.The air that day was thick with mist, reflecting my uncertainty about climbing such a massive structure. Ultimately, this artifact was several times older than America, signifying I was on historic grounds.
Clouds, clouds, and more clouds with a sign of trees
Look at how big that mountain is! We climbed that stretch twice
Picture taken at the end of the wall-don’t mind the photobombing tourist with the beard
No one told me we would be hiking, which actually amounted little more than crawling up the wall. But it was so fun. There were people from all over the world there with us- I met a woman from Jamaica, a couple from Russia, plenty of native Chinese, and ultimately some students from the University of Chicago. A true hosh-posh gathering of people from all walks of life. It’s always fun to meet new people, because even though two people may observe the same event they never experience it identically. By now, I was dripping in sweat, but upon realizing that everyone else was too, I came to terms with it. I’d have to say the pinnacle of the excursion was bartering with the only shopkeeper on this stretch for water, and since we knew some Chinese, she gave us discounts. Gaming the system? Definitely. But when someone wants you to pay $5 for a bottle of water, you’d do the same.