Beijing Trip Part II (The Great Wall)

After the summer palace, the rain had died down a little. The sun was peaking out from behind grey clouds. We took a bus about an hour drive for lunch and then to the BaDaLing section of the great wall. It's one of the most restored sections of the wall and we were ready to climb.

Chairman Mao ZeDong, the Communist revelotionary leader of China, once said, "bu dao Chang Cheng fei hao han." This loosely translates to, "if you don't climb the great wall, you are not a real man" Or not a "hero." I've heard multiple translations, but the saying was known by every Chinese person we met. We heard it more and more as we neared closer the base of the wall. People would come up to us and whisper it in our ears, and then run off. It was repeated like a mantra. bu dao Chang Cheng fei hao han. bu dao Chang Cheng fei hao han. We could resist the draw of the wall and the mountain it stood upon no more. We looked up from the bottom and then climbed the Great Wall.

At the bottom. It looks easy from here.

OK...I take it back. These angle of the stairs makes it much more difficult than initially suspected. We were sweating almost instantly.

Pat makes the great wall look like a fashion accessory.

Hiroshi gets artsy with his pictures of us.

We've come a long way, but we aren't up yet!

Where's Pat?

It looks even more beautiful near the top.

We are sweaty and a few of us threatened to quit half-way. But we're almost there! Let's take a picture break so we can sit for a moment.

Look how far we've come!

Exhausted and soaked, we've made it; everyone in for this picture! Get in, yosh!

Hiroshi frames that perfect shot.

This wall....its grrrrrrreat!

Lauren doing her world famous signature handstand on the wall.

When the top isn't good enough...get even higher.

On top of the world. We've climbed over 1,100 vertical feet from the base of the wall where we began.

Make sure to check out Part I of this Beijing trip and come back soon for Part III