Walkin' on the Wall

This one has been a long time in coming, but it was the best part of our time in Beijing. Our third full day in Beijing, we were picked up in the morning at our hostel by a rented vehicle, driver, and tour guide. We picked up Matt and Jess at their hostel then headed to the Great Wall of China! It was nice to reconnect with our teammates after a week apart and catch up on all the fun things that we had done. It was also great knowing that we were on our way to the Great Wall. Growing up, this was one of those things that we always wanted to see but never thought we would get to. We have been so blessed! We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It is a little farther from Beijing than another section, so it is not as crowded. The wall was considerably higher than the entrance, so we took a chair lift up. To get down, we rode on the tobbagin run. You can see part of the track in the bottom left part of the picture. It was extremely fun!This was our tour guide on the ride to and from the wall. Once we got to the wall, she let us go off on our own. She suggested that we go to the right because it was a more challenging section.We ended up climbing more steps than we had in a month. It was certainly challenging but well worth it. There is an old Chinese proverb that says no man is truely a man until he has climber the Great Wall. That day, we all became men, even the women!We deffinately did not want to goof up going down these stairs. One little trip and a person would go a long way before he or she stopped. Evey one of us had at least one little wobble.Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few more for you to look at.And you thought all the leaning things are in Pisa! Actually I just had the camera croocked at the right time.There was a snack vendor set up on the Wall. After our hike on the first half we stopped and grabbed the world's best power food, a Snickers! There is nothing like eating a Snickers on the Wall, except for the fact that they were really cold and kind of like eating a rock.
Here is Jennifer after her ride off the Wall. The slide run was great fun! Our time at the Wall was amazing! It was incredible to walk on such history. We are so thankful for this opportunity!