Great Wall

I have been to the Great Wall a number of times. I went this past weekend with Diachemix, my dad's business which was in town last week. It was a chilly day, and I really didn't wear the right clothes, as it had just started being cold, and you never can tell how warm or cold it's going to be, especially while climbing up and down the steep steps of the Great Wall.

Well, we drove out to the Badaling section, which I had never been to, and as we were getting closer we were watching the temperature drop, 13 degrees Celsius in the city down to 4 degrees celsius at the wall. And when we pulled into the parking lot it started snowing. 

It was the first time I had been to the Great Wall in the snow, and truthfully it was a really neat experience. I think it made me appreciate it more. Though the views of the wall snaking through the hill side weren't really visible, the parts we could see were impressive. And with the view dusted with some snow flakes, and the air filled with large flakes, it really was added to.

I'd like to go in the winter when the hills are all covered with snow and there are probably less people.

It was unbelievable that on a cold dreary day, though it was a Saturday, that there could still be so many people. The person who took us there, named Wang was saying to me in Chinese how he was blown away by the number of people there when it was so cold. "Imagine it on a summer day," he said. I reminded him that this is only one of how many sites for the wall around Beijing, and all have 50+ RMB tickets. While seven bucks doesn't sound like a lot, I think it would add up over a year. 

The falling snow also made me think about something I think about every time I see the wall, just the fact that it was constructed with all manpower on steep terrain and probably not just in good weather. Pretty mind boggling.