The Great Stairmaster of China

September 5, 2007; Beijing, China



Valerie: Today we visited the Great Wall of China. Our trip got off to a rocky start. Although we were told that the bus (with 2 other couples from our guesthouse) would be picking us up at 6:40am, we didn't actually leave for the Great Wall until 9:30am because the trip was overbooked and we all had to wait for a second bus. Ugh.



Adam: Nevertheless, we made it out to Jinshanling in Hebei province by 11:30 to start the climb. This was not a guided tour -- our driver just showed us a map and told us to get moving so we could be down off the wall by 4.



Valerie: The hike itself was only 10km (approximately 6 miles). They tell you it takes about 4.5 - 5 hours to hike the entire trail, which includes 30 different watchtowers. At the start of the hike, you were given the option of taking a cable car to the first watchtower. We, of course, decided to take the trail instead. Go us!



Adam: And thus began the epic lumber up the wall. For those of you not in the know, the wall is not what you might think it is - it is a series of very steep walls, often reaching inclines of 60-70 degrees. Although the views are fabulous, you get pretty winded after doing a few stretches.



Valerie: The first leg of the hike (until about tower #10) was the hardest, with one section including 130 steps. Each step was about 2-3 feet high. Despite the effort it takes to reach these towers, at almost every single one there were a group of Chinese women trying to sell you water, coke, and beer. I needed 2 cokes after the 130 steps!



Adam: After the first ten towers, the hike became easier - more a series of rolling ups and downs (with a few surprise drops and jumps in between). Valerie took a ton of pictures - as she always does - and a lot of them came out really well.



Valerie: Although the hike became easier, this was still the most strenuous hike either of us had been on. But the views were so impressive that the hard work was well worth it. We hiked up with a German, Canadian, and Danish couple. We beat them all and made it to the bottom in 4 hours! We now have buns of steel.



Adam: Which became regular old buns after a dinner at the Donghuamen night market. The market is clearly geared towards tourists - but we had a good time anyways. I had a pancake filled with beef and onions, some vegetable dumplings, and a skewer of fruit that had been dipped in sugar!

Because of our slow Internet connection, we'll upload photos tomorrow.



Up Next: We visit the Summer Palace.