Right up there with Bungee Jumping in Queenstown, we climbed one of The Seven New Wonders Of the World outside of Beijing on Sunday afternoon…The Great Wall of China. WOW!
Locally known as The Long Wall, it stretches 5,500 miles east to west across the historic northern borders of China. Separate walls were built, beginning in the 656 BC to protect individual feudal empires. They were joined together as one Long Wall during the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644. That is almost two hundred years!
There are various places one can climb the wall outside of Beijing, and I swear we were taken to the steepest part! My jaw dropped when I saw where we were going.
What an exhilarating experience! Bucket List moment for me. Dennis had been on the wall before in 1994 but not in this section.
Have you seen the movie THE GREAT WALL yet? Trust me …. THE MONSTERS ARE REAL.
I have a new theory on how to create understanding among people. If anyone wants to fight or start a war, they should be forced to climb The Great Wall together first. It was such fun smiling and laughing with strangers as we all worked HARD to climb those stairs. The language barrier fell away as we panted, encouraged, and high fived each other during the challenge. It made my heart very happy.
The way back down was easier for me but harder on Dennis’ knees. When one needs to rest, just sit in the middle of the stairway so not to block the railing.
This experience was certainly the highlight of the trip so far for me. It seems like we’ve been here for a week, but its only been two days of sightseeing. Our fellow travellers are friendly and fun and our guides are easy and accommodating.
We feel so incredibly blessed.
And Carrie Cardan …. this one is for you.
Freebirds Frolic 
Amazing!
Sent from my iPad
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I Love You Diana. 💋
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You were RIGHT THERE with me girl!
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BTW love your headband. So glad you guys are enjoying your trip, I sure am!
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Wish you were with us!
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Very cool! Great photos! Wow … I can’t wait to hear your stories upon your return! The history, the people, the everything ! Looks like a fabulous experience! 💖
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First…the headband is super cute! Do you know how high you climbed? And how long did it take you to get to the there?
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Thanks for inspiring new questions. I will find out the name of the “section” we visited. But it took us about 45 minutes to where we stopped and about 30 to get down with picture and gaulking stops. See comment from Kirk below.
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Congrats to you both!
I climbed that same section back in 1995. Did you notice how uneven the stair sizes are? I asked about this and my guide shared that it was by design since enemy soldiers who gained access couldn’t develop a rhythm, were slowed down, and the probability of stumbling increased.
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THANK YOU! We were not told that but it makes perfect sense. I climbed up part of it with all fours … hands on the steps in front of me. Boy did I have dirty hands when I was done!
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