Great Wall

So I finally did something culturally relevant with my time over here and I think it deserves its own blog.

Today Damien took me to the Great Wall!

Yup, been here three weeks, finally made it out..barely. The morning started out pretty rough. Damien and I have both been deadly sick for about a week. We went out to sushi last week, turns out it was a bad idea. Neither of us have been right since which is a little disconcerting because we really should be well by now.

Anyway, we manned up and took the hour long bus ride without any emergency pitstops. From there another 20 minutes short bus got us to the base.

Damien took me to a section that was more restored and less popular than what most people see out here. It was a great idea as it was deserted.

For a country with a billion people and a city with a thousand skyscrapers. The sudden peace when we started up the huge stairs was really powerful. All of a sudden I was breathing clean air and not hearing car horns, that's a hell of a thing after about a month here.

There are a few chair lifts but we took the long way up. Personally, if I was a Mongolian, the damned stairs would have been enough, no need for a wall. But I guess they had horses, so yeah...they probably weren't sick with chivas and beijing sushi too.

So we finally get on top of the wall and we're completely alone. We can see a few people off in the distance in the more popular direction, (where the chair lift lets the lazy bums off) and since there were people and a bright lift ruining the view we turned and cruised the other way.

The Wall's a lot different than I thought. It's no where near straight. Considering we were in the mountains I don't know what I was thinking, straight would be impossible, but still it was interesting to watch it wind all around us. There were forks and it seemed like one part was a huge circle.

We walked probably a mile of the wall in total. Up and down thousands of crooked and randomly sized stairs, and through a five sentry posts. I had a few beers along the way, cuz really, when do you get the chance to drink a beer on a world wonder? And we got some great pictures that'll be posted at some point.

The peace of it all was the best part of the day, no grabbing me trying to sell me anything, no one honking. We were completely alone on this epic wall, really amazing.

We hit the end of the section that's been restored, and that's as far as you're supposed to go. But I think we err....missed a sign, so we ended up cruising along the non restored section. No barriers and looser gravel made it somewhat sketchy so we only walked up one more tower, but it was really interesting to see the wall in it's completely natural state.

So...yeah. I mean, there's nothing like it, as far as you look you can pick out sections of the wall. Imagining the manpower involved is tough considering the tools and technology of the time. And how the hell they held of Mongolians long enough to get the thing built is beyond me, but hey, good job China!

Alright, well that's about all I can say about the Wall. But let me say, the way down kicked serious ass!

Again thanks to Damien for picking this section. The way down was a freaking bob sled run. He mentioned there was a slide, I didn't think it was the actual way down off the mountain.

We get to the slide and it's a full on curved metal bobsled run. Like the baddest longest waterslide you've ever seen. And to man it you get this little sled with a lever. Push down for acceleration, pull back for brakes. Looking at it I get why they sold me 1 quan insurance at the gate (no lie, I bought 12 cents of insurance...life...medical...dunno) Now keep in mind there's absolutely no one here at the wall and thus, no one ahead of me on the track.

So the guy says you can get it going better by leaning into the turns and I climb in. Down for fast is all I needed to hear so I jump on and lay the paddle to the metal.

The lanes slick and deserted so I just start flying. I'm switching hands on the brake so I can grab the sled with my other hand and further lean into turns. A couple times on quick dips I got some air and there were a hell of a lot of 'sharp turn brake' signs that I ignored.

To be honest I got nervous a couple times, but meh....when are you gonna get a chance to fire down a deserted sled run from the great wall so I didn't bother slowing up my good time. A couple guards along the track yelled at me, I can only assume slow down but at the time I chose to hear it as 'yeah dude!!'

Seriously if there's been a faster run down that thing in recent history I'd be surprised I hit the bottom, (they have a great red banner you ride through) and had to wait two and a half minutes for Damien.

Unfortunately as soon as we hit the base of the wall it was back to Beijing reality, vendors grabbing our arms and yelling prices, cars and insane traffic. But for just a few hours of peace, it was all worth it.