Finally, The Great Wall.

This Sunday I finally got to get to the Great Wall! Getting to see the Great Wall was one of the few "must sees" for my trip. I really want to see everything and anything, but I knew that I had to make it to the Great Wall, or this trip would be a failure (not really). The day began early at 8:10 am when I was awakened by my roommate, who was stirring around the room like a child on Christmas morning. He actually said "wake up" in English, followed by some unrecognizable phrase relating to the Great Wall. So, I reluctantly rolled out of bed and got dressed to head out to the bus downstairs. Amazingly, my ankle was not bothering me for the first time in about two weeks. My roommate and I sat awkwardly in the room for about 15 minutes, because, surprise, we had gotten up too early. After making it downstairs, we climbed aboard one of the two awaiting buses and began our journey to the Wall. I had a large amount of homework to do, so I began reading for Philosophy. Deep into my reading of Mencius, my roommate, begins reading over my shoulder and asking for the definitions of various lengthy words. So, the remainder of the bus ride was spent explaining words like "benevolent." It was interesting to say the least. After about two hours of the lightning round of Define-a-Word, we finally arrived at the Great Wall. Unfortunately, there was even more haze at the wall than there was in Beijing. Still incredibly excited, I followed the large group of CET students and Chinese roommates in a caravan through the tourist-laden village below the Wall towards the trailhead. As we began scaling the thousands of stairs between us and the Wall, I shit you not, we all of a sudden come across a giant metal chute cutting through the forest. It turns out that it’s a toboggan ride that goes down from the top of the Wall back down to the parking lot below. That's right, there's a Great Wall ride....at the Great Wall (only 40 Yuan too). Exhausted from climbing stairs for 30 minutes straight, we finally reached the Wall and took a few more stairs up to the top. The view from the top was incredible, but the haze was thick. I would really love to go back sometime before I leave China, just to see the views there without haze. Despite this minor hindrance, the Wall was incredible. I've heard again and again about the size and length of the wall, but seeing it in person is completely different. I was in awe of the Chinese people's ability to build such a monstrous piece of architecture. I was more than happy to follow the Wall for over an hour, and would have been even happier to follow it for about five more, but we had a deadline for returning to the bus. So, we reluctantly turned around and headed for the bus. As you may have guessed, we couldn't possibly pass up riding the toboggan down. I'm not going to lie; it was the best 40 Yuan I have ever spent. It was a blast. The little cars were equipped with a handbrake, which the owners encouraged you to use liberally. The CET leader of our trip, Ben, told us that when his father came, his ride on the toboggan ended with him flying off of the track into the woods. With this in mind, I tried to go as fast as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the track is lined with people (at all the dangerous turns) yelling at riders in English to "Slow down!" At the bottom of the ride, our group found some snack food and loaded back on the bus to head back to campus. The ride back was much longer than the ride up. The traffic in Beijing is atrocious. I did manage to fall asleep (along with everyone on the bus, minus the driver of course), and I managed not to drool on myself, which is quite a feat for me in my history of sleeping in vehicles. So, that's how my journey to the Great Wall ended, with a drool-free nap back to campus. All joking aside, it was amazing, and I can't wait to get back on a day without haze. There are tons of pictures up online, so go check them out!