Great China Wall

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Today we headed out to explore the Great China Wall.  This is actually not a single wall, but there are many fractions of the wall, at some locations running even in parallel.  The wall was built for the protection of intruders from north over centuries and millenniums, and is a remarkable engineering effort, considering it is built on ridges of mountains. It is stretching through 17 provinces for thousands of miles, but militarily it was not very successful. 

You can visit the wall at many different locations, but we opted for Badaling, which is the easiest to access and completely restored (and with many tourists).  Visiting the wall is a remarkable experience. The wall is very steep at points. Gradually, the number of people around us became smaller until we reached the end of the restored wall (further walking was not allowed).  There, we were alone on the wall on a beautiful sunny day, surrounded by quiet and peaceful on a rugged mountain ridge – a sublime feeling.

In the evening we added one more “can-not-miss” Beijing experience – we headed to taste Peking duck.  The restaurant was in a hutong – an old narrow street, half destroyed for the upcoming high rises.  The duck was succulent and very tasty.