Our trip to China

[Kim]

I hope you have a very nice trip to China Sophie, and please be careful on the wall. Look forward to see your pictures on the forum and read about your adventure.

[sophie]

Hi everyone, we are back from China and we had a great time. We walked from Jinshanling to Simatai. We saw lots of interesting places. Later when I have time I will explain the details. The Great Wall was the best part. It's no wonder people are so impressed by it. It was really unbelieveable. And it's good to be home.

[greatwallforum]

Welcome home, Sophie. It's great to hear that your trip went well. I look forward to hearing more and seeing some photos.

Bryan

[sophie]

Well I have been back for a while now and I think I have recovered.

Our China trip was wonderful, all of us had a great time and everything went OK. We saw lots of sights in Beijing and in Chengde. Everything is very different from home and after a while your neck gets tired from all of the looking around. We did so much talking and laughing that my throat got sore too.

On the third day we went to Jinshanling. On the way there we past through a couple of small villages where you could see the Great Wall up on top of mountains. When I first saw it, I though, it's a lot bigger than I thought it is. Even though it is way up high it looks tremendous. When we got to Jinshanlig we walked to the gate and bought tickets. Ater passing the ticket place there is a cable car on the left and we decided to ride it. Riding cable car up was a little scary. The cars are small and open. As you are going up you can see the Great Wall better and better. It is not in one place but all around us. When we were all at the top together we walked up to the Great Wall together. When you get close to it you see there are so many many bricks and the wall is just so big, so massive, and it looks really old. There is a path to follow so it's not hard to find your way. Then there are steps leading up onto the top of the wall. We got up and turned to the left which was to the east. The weather was clear and in the distance you could see the Simatai mountain which was where we were going to walk. I recognized it from pictures. It was easy.

A lot of people tried to sell us drinks and souveneirs. The asked if we wanted them to carry our bags. We said no. They walked along with us anyway. There were not too many tourists there and so they seemed to want to sell us something. We saw post cards and books and more things and a few of the girls bought some stuff but I didn't.

We walked slowly and looked around at all the variety of styles of buildings. It seems that no two of them were alike when they were new and that they are even more different now. Some of them are old and some of them have been fixed. When they fixed them they left the old bricks on the bottom and added new ones on the top. It's not hard to see the difference. But many places were not fixed and they were falling apart. Bricks were lying around. The path was pretty even for a while and then it started to get old and uneven. Pretty soon my legs were getting really tired. I have never climbed so many steps before. Up and down, up and down, and then do it again.

The Great Wall is not for someone with a fear of heights. The mountains are pretty big and then added to that the Great Wall is high. If you look down you feel dizzy. If you walk and look down at the same time you feel disoriented. I thought is was the most exciting thing I have ever done. I did not feel dangerous but I can see how it could be dangerous if you aren't careful.

Then we reached a part where the wall was almost gone. We had to pass it one at a time and there it was scary. If you just slipped you would fall down to broken bricks at the bottom and so you had to hold on with your hands to whatever there was to hold onto. I didn't like that part but we saw other people ahead of us passing it so we did too. The natives that were trying to sell us things walked over it very casually. They have probably been over it a hundred times. Some of them were wearing what looked like house shoes and we laughted about that.

Then there was a long, long steep up hill. On the left side of the wall top the steps were pretty good and we climbed up and up it. That was scary too, and I tried not to look down and to walk very slowly. All of us encouraged each other to go. When we got up to the top, we looked back at where we had come from. Oh my! We felt so proud that we had made it. And the scenery was just unbelieveable. Mountains after mountains as far as you can see, and since all the villages and building were down in valleys you can't see any of them. So all you see is the Great Wall and the mountains. The Great Wall seems to go on forever. At this time I understood why people like the Great Wall so much. There really is nothing like it in the world. I felt very lucky to be able to experienece it for myself. Then we looked at the direction where we were going. It was still very far and we realized that this was a big task that we had taken to do. But we were at the top and most of the rest of the way was down hill, though it was still up and down, there was more down than up.

In the next tower we stopped and ate lunch. It was so good because I was really hungry. We gave some fruits to some of the natives that were still walking with us and they seemed to like them very much. I was so hungry. Walking on the wall really gives you an appetite and I drank a lot of water too.

We walked through more towers. They seem to be really close together here, just a few minutes apart. I looked at my watch and I can't believe we have only been 3 hours since we arrived at the cable cars. It seems like we have been walking all day long. Soon there were some women who wanted us to buy tickets. We didn't know if that was for real or not but they said if we wanted to go to Simatai then we must buy tickets. We paid for them and after that we didn't have to buy any more tickets so I guess that was OK.

We reached one area that had a very long down hill. This wall area didn't have any steps, it was just tilted down and I was not too comfortable to walk down it. I kept picturing what would happen if I fall. I held my friend's hand. She was scared too. We walked really slow. It was a long way down. We were careful. When we made it we looked back up and laughed at everything. The whole experience was just something we will never forget. Next we got to an area where there was a little sign with an arrow telling us to go down some steps to the right. There a path goes along the side of the wall where the wall goes up a steep hill and back down the other side. The path goes around this steep hill and back to the wall. That saved us having to climb a lot of steps.

The wall went down more and we could see the lake. Soon we were almost there and there were metal steps going down. These steps were really long and steep, like ladders. The end of the path came to this long swinging bridge across the lake. That was fun too. When we reached the other side, the wall goes straight up this huge and steep mountain. None of us wanted to go any more. The path off to the right went to the hotels and a parking lot and we followed it to a restaurant where we found our van. It took us a total of about five hours to reach the end.

We never had a chance to go to other parts of the Great Wall. Our trip was just too short. But I will never forget our hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. It was the best part of our trip. The Great Wall is really a wonder of the world and everyone should see it if they can. Thanks to everyone on this forum for helping us to enjoy it well. I feel like I have made some good friends here and that has been part of the experience. I learned a lot too and that made my class mates impressed. If I ever get a chance to go back to the Great Wall I will be really happy.

[Lingyu]

Hi, Sophie, I am so happy for your safe and sound trip. Furthermore, I am very proud of you too. Bravo.

Besides, thank you for your wonderful description of your hiking on the Great Wall. It reminds me of my memory about hiking on this part of the Great Wall. When I read your description, it seemed I was hiking with you. I agree with you that everyone should see it as possibly as they can. They'd better hike on a part of the Great Wall so that they can sense the miracle of the Great Wall.

[Kim]

Thanks for your great description of your trip to the Great Wall - it seems you had a really good time.

Hope to see some pictures?

[sophie]

I didn't take a lot of pictures. And my camera isn't really that good. But some of them are good and there are some of them that I would like to share.



I tried but I can't figure out how to insert a picture.

[greatwallforum]

Originally Posted by sophie

I tried but I can't figure out how to insert a picture.

Don't cry, Sophie! We can help you.

If you have or want to create an account at an image hosting site like imageshack or photobucket, you can upload the pictures there and then link to them from here.

If you would like to e-mail the pictures to me, I will be happy to take care of them for you.

Thanks for trying. We are looking forward to seeing your photos. Jinshanling is my favorite Great Wall site and I always like looking at new pictures of it!

[greatwallforum]

Here are Sophie's photos from her trip.

They are excellent photos, Sophie! I put my favorite one at the top. Thank you for sending them.

[sophie]

Thanks Bryan!