Beijing Great Wall of China (Friday, August 17th, 2018 )

This is our first day with the tour group, and we are excited to let Gate-1 take over all of the planning for us.  From here on out, they will provide all of the transportation, entry tickets, line skipping, helpful information, etc.  

Our first stop this morning will be the Great Wall of China.  Where do I even begin....

The building of the great wall began in 221 BC, over 2,000 years ago.  I don't know about you, but I can not even begin to image something that was built before the birth of Jesus!

Before 221 BC China was made up of seven different kingdoms.  When the Qin dynasty conquered the other six kingdoms in 221 BC, Emperor Qin took over as ruler.  Try to imagine the cold lands of Mongolia (north of China) during that time.  It was so far north that nothing would grow for many months of the year, so the Mongolian nomads (a warlike tribe known as the Huns) would work their way south to find food.  The problem was that they weren't nice about it.  

So Emperor Qin began building the great wall. Qin’s wall started at the east coast of China and went about half way across China to what was then Gansu, running along the top of a mountainous ridge allowing for great visibility.  The first portion of the wall was built with rammed earth, using forced labor and was completed in 212 BC.  The people that died building the wall were buried within the wall to save time.  It is known as the largest cemetery in China.

When the Han Dynasty took over China in 202 BC, the Han emperor built the rest of the wall, all the way to the west to what is now known as Kazikstan.  The total length was greater than 10,000 km, or 6500 miles! 

As we worked our way off the flat lands and into the mountains, we began to see some guard towers and then little glimpses of the wall itself.  When we got there, our Gate-1 tour manager went ahead of us and purchased our tickets to the Great Wall so we could just walk in through the gate.  They told us our options for climbing the wall and gave us a time to meet back up so everyone could climb (or not) at their own pace.

The wall was much wider and steeper than I had ever imagined.  When you think that it was built over 2,000 years ago, it was an incredible feat.

 
Our goal was to climb to the tower at the top of the hill behind us.  

 So we set out on our climb enjoying the sights as we went.  

Looking back toward where we started.

The steps are very uneven.  Some are only one brick high and some are as many as six bricks high.  It just follows the contour of the land.

Did I tell you that parts of it are crazy steep?  Well, I meant it!

Along the way, there were guard sheds, where we could move off the wall and rest for a few minutes before continuing.

I gave up on cute many steps ago.  It's hot and sweaty and a ponytail is a must!

We made it to the guard shed on top, and what we didn't realize is that this is as far as you can go.  The wall continues on, but the we could not.  It is off limits to tourists beyond this tower.

The views from the wall are absolutely amazing.  We can see why the watch towers were effective, although there were still many attacks from the north even after this wall was built.

A lot of people climb the wall each day, but it's so huge, it handles the masses very well!

Heading back down.

It is so steep at this point!

Steve got a text from our nephew, so he stopped at one of the guard towers to answer him.  I have to admit that it was a nice place to stop.  At our age, it's easier to go up than down, and our knees were ready for a break.

Our whole group!  Seventeen of us will spend the next few weeks together, get to know each other and make some new friends.  We're so excited for this journey to begin!

We had a total of three hours at the great wall to climb, explore, take pictures and just take in the amazing sights.  I could have spent the whole day here just cheering people on as they climbed.  

I can't image that anything else we see on this trip will surpass the feeling I have this morning, but I know that there is still so much more to see.  I can't wait!