The wall stretches over three thousand miles across China, and was built to keep the Mongolians from invading China.
Much of the wall was built over extremely rugged terrain, often up the very steep slopes of mountains, as you can see in some of the pictures. The reason for this is quite obvious; nearly any army would be discouraged after climbing a steep, and unstable rocky slope to meet a brick wall with men shooting arrows and dumping hot tar down on top of them.
We got to experience some of what it would be like to patrol the wall by climbing up six different staircases to reach the top of the mountain that this section of wall was built on. It is a very steep climb, and our guide stopped after the first set of stairs and said she would wait for us there.
The climb up is a bit difficult, if only because the stair are very steep in places, and no two steps are the same height. It is like staggering up stairs that have been worn down through the centuries by countless feet. One of the wonders of the Great Wall is the way the bricks were laid when building it. The bricks run paralell to the ground, some of them nearly standing vertical. Because of this, the Wall should have slid off the mountain years ago. However, something in the way that the Chinese built it has allowed the Wall to stand for centuries with very little restoration needed. Most of the stones and bricks in the wall today are original. It's quite amazing.
As you climb it, the Wall can be deceiving because of how the mountain ridges lay. As you climb toward the third gaurdhouse, it looks like you are reaching the top, bit behind that stretches another ridge that gradually slopes up to the real top. After the third section, Anna stopped and said she'd wait for me. Being so close to the top, I just couldn't let it go. I'm like my Dad and my brother, if there's a mountain to climb, we'll go up it. Call it a pride thing.
The higher you climb, the less people you see. Most climb the first section and call it good. Near the top i only saw some kids and a couple of adults. It is nice to be able to enjoy the wall without the crowds.
Once I got to the top, I could see what kind of strategic advantage this would have given the Chinese. You can see for miles! I could look all the back down the valley we had driven up and see the beginning of Bejing. I would be willing to bet that, without the smog and haze, I would have been able to see the entire city.
I stood there for a moment, caught my breath and enjoyed the view, then began the long walk back down, meeting Anna on her way up to find me.
The walk back down is nearly more difficult than the climb. By that point your legs are pretty wobbly. Combined with the unevenness of the steps, you begin to feel like you might fall the rest of the way any moment. Eventually we made it, collected our guide and reached the bottom. At the bottom there is a large stone slab with Chinese writing on it. According to our guide, it says "If you come to China and do not climb the Great Wall, you are not a real man.". Apparently, Anna and I can now be called real men! :-). - Scott
I will comment on the shopping. Since the Great Wall is so far from the city, it is common to stop at various craft stores along the way. We first visited a cloisonne "factory" and got to see how each piece was first cast in copper or bronze, then covered with scrollwork, which was then filled with powdered mineral. The object is then heated and when the color is of sufficient depth to fill the scrollwork design, it is polished and sanded until all the colors are even and the scrollwork shows through. Below is the first step of covering the object with designs.
Below an artist is filling the design with powdered mineral.
We also visited the jade factory, which had amazing 12 foot by 12 foot carvings and statues costing millions of Yuan. We couldn't even think of affording those, but of course I couldn't pass up buying the traditional jade bangle bracelet. - Anna
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