Day 3 - Saturday - The Great Wall of China

We started off our Saturday with a leisurely breakfast in the atrium where you can serve yourself all kinds of American or Asian breakfast foods. This is on the third floor of our hotel and this is at about 7:15. We were up a bit earier today because our tour bus would be taking us on a 90 minute drive out of Beijing to the Great Wall.

The bus is a large, comfortable vehicle with huge windows, climate controls and a very talented driver.

Another cool detail about this large tour bus is that it's a stick shift. The driver handled the bus like it was an extension of his own body. Buttery smooth shifting, no panicked lurching or slamming on the brakes. Just calm, steady and confident. And he was not maneuvering our bus only in wide open spaces. He engaged in the traffic dance that we are witnessing here in Beijing. It's a unique blend of people on bicycles, mopeds, scooters, rick-shaws, pedestrians, children on scooters, cars, commercial trucks, other large buses and cars everywhere.  Yes, there's definitely honking that goes on, but this guy was calm as she goes. All that combined with the patience of Job.  He didn't speak a word of English, so I didn't get to thank him personally for quietly doing his skill in such an impressive way.  

This bridge reminded me a lot of the new Port Mann bridge in Surrey/Coquitlam, B.C. so I snapped a picture. Speed is measured in km/hour and cars travel in the right-lane (driver sits on left) just like in North America, in case you were wondering. At this point, we're only about 30 minutes away from the Wall of China.

We're here! The Great Wall of China! Nestled in the mountains. This is cool!

This is George, our CCAI rep, posing with Tyler, Dylan and Joel.

The wall is remarkably steep and it was tough slogging to get up it. It goes on for thousands of miles, and I think we only covered about 1 mile at the most. it was in a mountaneous region with gorgeous scenery. It was kind of Whistler-like, you could say.  

I'm not joking when I say it was steep! You get out of the tour bus, and you start climbing these stairs, which vary in height from 6" to 18". People are clinging to the hand rails and huffing and puffing and sweating and sitting and cussing. It's quite interesting.  Michelle hung back a little bit in the lower areas (as she's not a big fan of heights)  and Pauline and I carried on with the boys.

the wall is remarkably congested in spots. Less than 4' in one part. The further away you get from the parking lot, the less people and the thinner the air.  There is a good atmosphere among the people that are climbing/hiking up the stairs. Friendly banter and back pats and people offering to take your picture. You definitely hear a wide variety of languages being spoken. Michelle struck up a conversation with some Dutch people. When she told them her last name was Vandriel they said, "Ja, vee liff close bij some Vandriels, and, jah, deze zijn pretty goot people"  Pauline says she bumped into someone from Calgary. I heard Brits, Australians, Americans, French, German and those were just the languages I recognized.

Me and my sis. We look relaxed here, but we are huffin and puffin. I see this picture was photo bombed by Jamie, another adopting parent from our group :) 

 

It doesn't matter how high/far you climb the wall, when you get to the next guard shack / building, you realize there's more, more, more and it never stops. Our tour bus group was given about an hour and a half to wander the wall. You leave with a feeling of awe at the sheer size, scale and enormity of the structure. 

These guys are mountain goats. And FAST, too! And they had lots of gas left in the tank, too.

I told them to strike a pose of victory: this is what they came up with :)

I told the boys I wanted to get a nice scenic picture, but I really needed a breather :)

Jade, who was part of our CCAI group, joined us for part of the hike. This is on the way down. Up in the back ground at the top of the picture, very right is about as high as we got. It was hard work!

This wall kept out the Mongolian neighbors who were a threat for many years. It is 3000 years old, and is considered one of the wonders of the world. Remarkably, it was built centuries before heavy construction equipment (and power tools) were available. When you stand on the wall, you are appreciating much the same scenery that has been enjoyed by others for thousands of years. If those bricks could talk!

It was a once in a life time experience. Soak this up, Vandriel! I kept telling myself. I was reminded today of how nice it was to have these guys on this adoption trip with us. This is the second most important part of this trip: meeting our daughter Anna is the very reason we're here in the first place. But what an incredible blessing that we were able to do this today. Sort of an exciting build up to when we actually meet her, Lord willing, on Monday October 12 (just 10 days before she turns 3)

These padlocks are everywhere along the handrails on the wall.  It reminds me of some of the padlocks you see on handrails and fences on bridges in Europe. Not sure what they mean. Maybe in memory of someone or in honor of someone. Or maybe it's as simple as "I was here" or "Here's where I collapsed on the wall" :)

Looking out one of the guard towers windows. Miles and miles of rugged mountaneous terrain all around.

It was good to finally catch up with Michelle again at the end. She was quite happy to have stayed in the lower areas chatting with some of the other adoption moms while her husband and sons conquered the wall. This is us just before boarding the bus.... All in all, a GREAT experience!