Today I visited the Great Wall and it is difficult to process how incredibly cool and impressive it is. Earlier this week, my former co-worker Kevin who now lives in Beijing had set up with a taxi driver friend of his to take us out for the day. "Benny" picked us up early, about 7 or so, and we set off for the 90-minute drive to the section we planned to visit.
To get up to this stretch, you have to take a ski lift. But when you get to the top, you walk around the top of the wall. And walk. And walk. And walk.
The stretch we were on went for several miles. Some of the time you're on stairs, some of the time the ground is flat. Most of the time it is quite steep. Today was considerably hot and extremely humid, so it was nice when you made it to one of the towers, where you could stand inside and feel a decent breeze.
We did an extrordinary amount of walking. Perhaps the most impressive thing was that Benny joined us and insisted on carrying my beloved Ski Utah bag and Kevin's heavier camera bags. And he did the whole thing wearing loafers. While chain-smoking. And not breaking a sweat. It was almost as impressive as the wall.
The stretch we were on of course is just one of hundreds, and there was so much rock on the thing that I actually can't get my brain around the amount of planning and engineering and work involved in ever putting the entire wall together. How is it possible?
I could go on, but I won't. But I will say that it was so much to take in, that when we finally got down to grab a bite to eat, I was shocked that we had been up there almost six hours. It felt like about one.
Suffice to say there's a reason the Great Wall has become so iconic. It certainly deserves it.
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