China Travel Diary 5: The Great Hike on the Great Wall!

Call time was 6:00AM, too early for this tourist (naks!) to get his body out of bed.But since we got a tour package for The Great Wall trip, we have no choice but to follow it.

Mutianyu is located 90 kilometers north of Beijing. We decided to visit rather than Badaling wall because it's not that crowded unlike Badaling.

See? no people!! =D

There are 24 stations in Mutianyu, we start from Station 6 then walked all the way to Station 17. We didn't finished till Station 24 (but Olive does want to finish till the end though) because me and rose are exhausted. From station 17 we returned back to station 6 and walked to station 1.

At first we had great time posing here and there. See those happy faces? naks!But after 30 minutes of going up and down (and more ups) we we're exhausted!

What makes it hard to walk in Great Wall is that some of the steps are above average in size. Mega-effort talaga ang pag-akyat at baba sa mga hagdan =(.

Malalaki ba paa ng mga Intsik kaya ganito kataas ang steps ng hagdan nila?

Despite the hardship of travesing the wall, still the sight is awesome!

Ni hao ma!

Along the way, we've met a man with a donkey for hire. I just wonder how the hell can the donkey walk on narrow and high steps of the wall??!! Diko na tinanong si manong, baka sipain ako ng donkey nia if i did ask. Jejejeje










At the back of the wall (on the side of china) there are steps going down the hills. These are located on every station quarters of the wall. Maybe it is use to deliver the goods or girls or anything to the soldiers =P.

The secret passageway

Lahat ata ng stations nagpapicture kami, unfortunately my solo pictures are saved on Olive's camera and I can't retrieve it now coz she's in Japan already!! Waaaa!

Olive where's my picture???!!!!!!

It was drizzling and foggy (or smog) when we went to the Great Wall. Though it was cloudy i got a sunburn from our trip to the wall =(. The smog lifted up at around noontime, just in time before we descend from the wall =D.









On the 4th station we noticed this wooden structure erected on the wall. The marker said that this is where the general used to live. So while the soldiers live on a stone station (which is actually cramped and small) the generals live on a cool and breezy quarters. =P




















Along the way, we've seen different type of people wearing extraordinaire clothes. The hot, young and handsome European men opt not to wear any shirt, topless kung topless! No wonder hindi makapagconcentrate sa paglalakad yung dalawang kasama ko!



But This one really got our attention! Yan ang ultimate Summer outfit!

"Best in Summer attire"

At the end of Station 1, there's a marker instructing that no person should go beyond this point. It is an old part of the wall that was not rehabilitated and its dangerous to go beyond this area. But since matigas ang ulo namin ni olive we ventured far beyond the marker, only just to see trees and shrubs where the walkway of the wall used to be. =(.

Dead End na!

Funny thing happened here. Since it was the 1st station and I was exhausted climbing up the stairs I sit on top of the stairs above the foreigners you see in the picture below:

Stairway to heaven ba ito?

Maybe due to exhaustion or nawindang lang talaga ako sa taas ng inakyat kong stairs, when i grab my 2 liters (or was it 1.5 liters) of gatorade it slip from my fingers and natapon sa 4 na foreigners sa harap ko =D.

Thank God they we're Europeans and kind as well coz hindi sila nagalit. The Ginger haired girl even laugh and she said "It was ok".

Here's Olive re-enacting the gatorade splash moment (minus the gatorade nga lang). I think i've never been this exhausted in my entire life!

We've seen some canons line up on the wall, unfortunately it is cast already to the cement, para hindi siguro manenok ng mga magnanakaw =P.

Amd this is the highest steps that i've seen inmy entire life! Napaisip talaga ako kung ang mga sinaunang Chinese ba eh mga long legged?








Olive, the daredevil, walked on the side of the stairs na ang taas-taas! See the picture here:

Sige na, ikaw na ang matapang! =P

Some walkways also are very difficult to walked on coz sira-sira na sha. Thank god i was wearing my trekking shoes kaya roads like this is an easy breeze for me (goodluck nalang sa mga naka heels!)



I think the experience at the Great Wall is something that I will never forget. One, it tested our patience with each other (we are all cranky with the heat, fatigue, thirst and what not). Second we've value the true meaning of friendship and the motto "no one will be left behind" (when rose decided not to proceed anymore to station 18) and most importantly how travelling is fun and enjoyable when you're with your makukulit na barkada.




The only low down of this trip was when knee joint give up to those repeated ups and downs. Until now I still feel the pain in my joints (but im too lazy to go to the doctor parin!)


But all in all, it was all worth it. I love the palce, the history, the uniqueness of the architecture and more importantly a appreciate how the chinese people turn their God-giving talent to prepare a extraordinaire masterpiece like this.



Definitely worth the visit!








so much more to come! abangan! =D