Great Wall of China – HuangYuGang

Great Wall of China – HuangYuGang – outside of Bejing / Tianjin

WOW is almost all I can say! It was a near-religious experience… a breathtaking, thrilling and rather physically demanding day. I had numerous “pinch me – am I dreaming” moments this day!

To step out onto something that was originally constructed over 1,400 years ago (about 550 AD) – was awe inspiring. To do so in the beautiful mountains on a cloudless sunny day was PERFECT – and because it was the “off-season” we had the entire wall to ourselves!! We were on sections that were 1400 years old, and others that were “only” 600 years old… and then a few sections that were rebuilt in the 1980s to replace sections that were destroyed by the Mongolians when they finally breeched parts of the wall.

From Tianjin, it was 2.5 hour car trip out to a very rural area. That alone was interesting, to see the small farm / peasant towns and villages. This is the “other side” or 3rd world aspect of China you also hear of. I saw it first hand. We were fortunate to have our own driver to take us, wait and bring us back in comfort. We drove two hours through villages and farms in the very flat plains from the coast, then suddenly the mountains sprung up. We went from near sea-level to a few thousand feet rather quickly.

When we arrived at the little village that the wall once protected, we had lunch in a little kitchen there. Kung Pao chicken and rabbit stew, along with fried rice and “local vegitables”. Let me tell you –“henhao cha” (it tasted very good)!

The full Great Wall tour starts with an interesting, winding ride up to the top of one of the mountains where one end of the wall starts. Switch-back after switch-back snaking through little houses and random goats. I wished I had my bike! Once at the top – we paid 50RMB each (about $7US) and met our tour guide (Mrs. Liu).

It took us about 3.5 hours to cover a little over 3km (~ 2 miles). I learned from the guide that this was the location of the “Great Wall Marathon” which I know about from being in the running community. It takes place in May. The course would be so TOUGH! They do 10 laps of the wall route I took today. So many steep and narrow sections – which were made more difficult for us because there was some snow/ice remaining in the shade on the steep slopes. I ran the wall in a number of the sections, up and down stairs and along some treacherous parts – it took a lot out of me, and I can’t imagine contending with 2,000 others for position along the wall. That race must be insane!

I got permission to climb a section of the wall that forked off the main wall - to one of the highest points, that is not a part of the “tour route” – it was so steep, I had to crawl up the face of the wall to get to the top! Getting down was even more difficult – I nearly crashed and burned – with my two companions looking on from a different section of the wall.

After we finished on the wall, we were taken into the “ancient” part of the village and to the labyrinth that was a model of the “real” one they had just beyond the wall – with the idea that if the Mongolians made it through the wall, they would then get lost into the labyrinth and die of starvation – the story is that a number of those soldiers actually did get lost and die within it!

I took about 250 pictures along the way, in addition to video. When I get back into the USA (and out from behind the Great Fire-Wall of China) I’ll post the best ones to my Facebook account (www.facebook.com/kenhagan)