Day 4, Part 1 - The Great Wall!

All I can say is wow what an amazing day!

We left the hotel at 9:30am for a 4-6 hour tour of the countryside to get to the great wall. We went to the Jinshanling Great Wall. It is a very quiet area with not many people touring the area. This is one of the original parts of the wall and it hasn't been renovated at all. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains on a two lane highway. that was quite scary to say the least. People are cutting in front and driving in the wrong lane. Our bus driver was amazing. We made it safely. Once we got closer you could see sections of the wall up high and it gave me goosebumps. For the first time all week it was sunny and hot. The view was breathtaking. It is the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We had lunch at a restaurant at the bottom of the wall. They served steamed rice, pancakes, meat, zuchini which was yummy and other stuff we didn't even touch. Many of the dishes have peanuts or is too spicy! Then we used the bathroom and that in itself was a very smelly gross adventure. I have decided that the squat toilets are the cleanest (so to speak) because you don't touch anything you just squat and go.

Then we were off to the cablecar ride which took us up to the section we could climb. The cablecar was about 15 minutes of pure heaven It was quiet, peaceful and MacLean and I just took in the beauty of it all.

As you reached the top you could see the wall for miles. It was sooooo beautiful. many of the paths were dirt and you had to stay close to one side as the other side was a steep drop off with no railings. There were many people there to help us on the way. They often took the kids hands to help them up the steps. We made it to the top and just looked and took pictures and video. We didn't go to far, we were very hot, out of breath and just wanted to stare and take it in. This is by far my favourite part of the trip. MacLean loved it as well and said it was just so beautiful.

Enjoy the pictures!
Shauna and MacLean xo