Beijing IV - The Great Wall

On the Second day of our trip we went to Juyongguan Pass which is section of the Great Wall which connects two mountain ranges. This section of the wall is known as the Badaling pass of and is located about 50km north of Beijing.

On the wall '07

It was roughly 6,352km long when it was in its various stages of completion. These days it is has fallen into disrepair and has only been restored in small sections where tourists visit. Ironically, the wall deteriorated as a result of people from local villages vandalizing it and removing the stones in order to repair older homes and construct new ones.

On the wall '02

It was my second trip to the wall and the first time I had the chance to climb it (the first time there was a cable car to take us to the top). The climb as hard, steep, and impossibly crowded neat the base. However, it thinned out dramatically the closer we got to the summit and we were able to get some good pictures. Getting a shot of anything in China without someone else in it is a major task.

The hardest thing about the climb was the fact that the wall twisted and turned its way up the mountain and that the steps were uneven and completely irregular and random in their spacing. It was explained to us that this was to slow down invaders who had breached the wall and were attempting to use it to move troops unharassed through the mountains.

It works...