All told, the Great Wall of China is 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) long. Started in the 5th Century BC, it is actually a series of walls and trenches interwoven with the natural landscape that also uses rivers and mountains to create barriers. One of the surprising things in visiting the wall was how low the actual walls are, espeically compared to the gorgeous, rolling mountains that surrounded the area we visited. It seemed those mountains would be more of a barrier than the actual wall. I believe the intermittent fortresses where more the point than most of the wall itself.
Our Frist Glimpse of the Wall.
We had originally signed up for a typical great wall tour before leaving Korea. They changed our pick-up time to six am, and feeling that was a little excessive, on a tip from a Spanish backpacker staying at our hostel, we signed up for the “Secret Wall Tour” offered by the Emperor Guesthouse instead. This was archaeologist heaven. While our counterparts were getting harrassed by venders, and hiking up completely reconstructed pieces of the wall renovated for the purpose of attracting tourists, we were hiking around on the original wall with a delightful 73 year old guide. He didn’t speak a word of English, but was very effective at demonstrating where the good areas to relieve your bladder might be.
Our Fearless Leader.
We left Beijing at 7:30 for a little over two hour drive to the location. At some point the mini-van driver pulled over in the middle of nowhere and started honking the horn. This was quite confusing to us, as he inched along the road, honking and looking around. There were donkeys passing us, fresh air like I haven’t breathed in months, and suddenly a very small, very happy looking old man bounded out of a corn field seemingly from nowhere. With a loud “Ni Hao” and a wave, we met our tour guide.
Besides our tour group, the only other people we saw on the hike were some local folks out for a stroll. Our tour guide never seemed short of breath, never took a sip of water, and raced ahead of our chubby foriegn rears on every stretch. In other words, he put us to shame. Interestingly, our tour group, except for one great, chatty, Swedish dude, was all English teachers living in Korea on vacation for Choesok. We had a good time comparing our experiences and ranking the most common question I hear in Korea, “So are you going to sign on for another year?” It was interesting to hear people’s varying opinions based on where they are stationed and who they work for.
Our group.
We ran into a group of early college students on a field trip. They were ecstatic to see us and we ended up spending quite a long time posing for pictures and chatting in basic English. I can’t tell you how many times in China local folks asked us to please come teach in China when they found out we were working in Korea. I’m very seriously considering a job in Beijing for next year.
Our tour ended back at our tour guide’s village where a delightful, largely vegetarian lunch was waiting for us.
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Ruby Ramblings 
I love falling ass backwards into a primo situation. That tour was absolutely awesome. The shots, the scene, and the enthusiastic guide emerging from nowhere. Just like Field of Dreams – except in China, without baseball. But you get my drift.
Comment by Bumbles October 9, 2009 @ 4:45 amI am just speechless – 🙂
Comment by Christy October 9, 2009 @ 12:02 pmAmazing!
Comment by Celia October 9, 2009 @ 8:30 pm