China Part 2

(After a Break to take our Winter trip for 2017 I am returning to complete the Blog for our April/May 2016 Trip to China. This will take several entries so I will try to be diligent and finish as quickly as possible, without interruption. To see Part 1/1a, go to 2016 entries and then return to this point.)

China Day 2 Morning- One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the Great Wall of China which extends in various stages of repair/disrepair over 8000 km. Originally built to keep out the Mongols (Trump take note: it didn’t work!) the Great Wall is made up of city walls that were joined together as alliances were built between the city-states. After mounting the wall by climbing up several flights of stairs, we chose to go to the left, taking the steeper way that had far fewer people on it. To the right, people were massed practically shoulder to shoulder. We were all glad we were able to physically climb the wall. Heidi, Kris and I managed to walk to 5 of the 25000 towers and were pretty exhausted when we finished. Marv managed to go another two towers along with Kathy, a single woman on our tour. By the time they got that far there were very few people and so Marv actually got a picture of an expanse with no people on it. There were some incredibly steep climbs. Chinese people love taking pictures with foreigners. I had a hard time escaping from some of the ladies. The blossoming apricot trees dotted the hillsides.

Our first sight of the Great Wall of China from the bus window.

Several flights of stairs allow one to access the wall at this point.

The length of the Wall boggles the mind. It snakes its
way across the hillsides as far as the eye can see. 

Note the blossoming apricot trees like snow drifts on the hillside beside the wall. 

Marv's persistence in climbing paid off with a
section with no one else around. 

It's hard to capture how steep some sections are but this view over Kris's
shoulder tries to capture it. Some sections of steps were really more like
going up the rungs of a ladder, and only about twice as wide as a rung!