Rambling: Blow by Blow- 2 april

2/4/2011Last day in Beijing today. We must train for better stamina.Being the last day in Beijing, we went to do what most tourists would come to try-climbing the Great Wall of China. Climbing is an understatement to me, we should say scaling the wall. As we stopped along the way to the entrance, I was amazed by the advancement of Chinese construction. They were able to construct solid barriers out of stone on the mountainous region, 1000+ years ago.

kay, this is the little town built entirely out of nothing but the route to the great wall. It's tourist infected and there is a KFC in one of the shops. I think I saw a Subway restaurant.

Can you see the words in the distance? They put up the words in honor of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, like a souvenir. I wondered how did they actually get up there. It's simply amazing.

The starting point of our hike. I couldn't get a clear picture of our hike distance, so the pictures look kind of disjointed.

To them, constructing HDB blocks pose no difficulty at all. If they can build a solid wall in the mountainous region, building a block must be a piece of cake. So we attempted to scale the wall. This was where things started to get more interesting. You see, I have just one problem. I get all jumpy whenever I turn behind to see how far I’ve climbed. It gets worse when I remember that the route so far isn’t a straight path but a slanted path upwards.

Tourists carving their name somewhere on the Great Wall, hoping to leave their mark on the face of the earth which would not be eventually faded or worn away.

Wall, this is the route we took. Well, it seems like the only one. The senior citizens make it a point to climb the wall during their free time. I make it a point to climb end to end.

To make things easier for me, I walked really slowly so that everyone else would go ahead of me, so I would get distracted by taking photos and forget that I’m climbing a wall where everything seems easier. Until I turn behind occasionally to see anything I missed, then I look down and mentally I’m screaming, but I’m pretending to be a cucumber on the outside.

Everyone's in front! 'Cept me, cause I'm a slow walker, my knees are weak and I'm taking this photo.

More people walking in this, bust strangely many tourists drop beyond the 4th checkpoint, but we walked all the way to the 7th. This is probably somewhere between the 5th and 6th, cause we're going uphill.

I don’t remember panicking so much. But my friends kept pushing me forward, walking behind me (no one walks behind me, because the kid always runs off to take photos of things people walk past) to make sure I wasn’t lost (yes, the tendency to wander off is always there). And when people boost that they have climbed the great wall, I still think they’re lying because they didn’t walk from end to end. I would say I just stepped on it. Climb=walk from end to end. Step=walk one small section.

Turning back to see how far we've climbed.. HOLY CRAP! The village in the background is the starting point. That's, pretty far..

This is how steep the great wall is. Maybe this isn't a very clearly illustrated picture.

Say Hello.

I would love to do that one day (climbing great wall). Complete with backpack, sleeping bag, walking boots and camera. Wouldn’t that be something? At least the photos will be worth. Other nitty gritty stuff can wait. Also I don’t understand how anyone can make their achievements sound… spectacular. I’m going to laugh at the person who boasted that he/she has climbed the great wall. (Refer to above, specifically 2 paragraphs before this, the last line, do you see it?)I would like to meet somebody who has done just that. I think that’s something to be proud of. Spam texted my mother at night. It’s time to go home.