What's So Great About the Great Wall?

Life ain't so bad at all when you live it ON the wall

What's so great about the Great Wall?  The people!  It's the massive throng of humanity packed into the narrow strip of pavement atop the Great Wall that makes its so great.  Otherwise, it's just another barricade to keep out unwanted foreigners.

The trip today was to the Badaling segment of the Great Wall, where you can take a cable car from the parking area to the wall itself -- although you have to park a fairly long distance from the parking area and take a shuttle bus to the staging area.

The line for the cable car was long, but moved very fast.

Soon enough we were in the cable car ascending the hill to the Great Wall.

And there we were, at the summit.

And there we were, along with a couple billion other people who were visiting the Great Wall today.

This section of the Great Wall is in the mountains, which means that parts of it are a very steep climb.  That wouldn't be so bad except for the steps were quite irregular, with no common pattern of heighth, or whether it was even steps or steep incline.

It's even more difficult if your lugging around dozens of extra pounds of belly fat.

This was a kid who said "hello," I'm guessing he wanted to practice the English he was learning in school with someone and I looked like an obvious candidate for being something other than a Mandarin speaker.  So I made him pose for a photo with me.

It was a bit foggy/smoggy in the mountains, so I couldn't snap any pictures to get a sense of the enormity of the wall.  I could, however, snap pictures to get a sense of the enormity of the throng of humanity.

The "cool" people say don't go to the Great Wall because it's so crowded.  Pshaw.  Yes, you heard (read?) me right:  Pshaw.  The crowds are there because it is an awesome must-see/must-do experience and if three-quarters of the population of China and a handful of Peruvians want to join me up on the Wall, who am I to deny them that experience?

Yes, I will defend extremely crowded tourist magnets because I too am here as a tourist, enjoying one of the wonders of the world.

Time to catch my breath.  I got no idea what that sign behind me is saying.  On the other hand, I did not need to be reminded to "Mind the Steps," seeing as right around the sign below, I ended up being the model for the pictograph on this sign:

Slick steps, sloped downward, of varying heights, is a recipe for a butt-plant.  So, yes, I indeed did "hit the wall," albeit with my derriere.  Fortunately, I fell very slowly and only my dignity was damaged.  So "no striding" for me.

It started to get cloudier as the day wore on.

And soon it was time to take the cable car back down from the wall.

Sorry about the picture quality.  Again, it was a foggy/smoggy day.  On the other hand, I was worn out climbing the wall as it was, so while sunshine would have enhanced the quality of the photography, it most certainly would have been a detriment to the quality of the wall experience.