Before coming to China, the one thing I knew I had to see was the Great Wall. From an American perspective it is the quintessential Chinese site, equally historical and astounding, and when one thinks of China one thinks of the Great Wall. Other famous sites like the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors are famous, but nothing compares to the Great Wall. With that being said, my expectations were quite high for this visit, and it did not disappoint. The astonishing length and detail of the wall was amazing, and the whole experience was very surreal and something I will remember forever.
The day began at 9:00 in the morning, where a group of us students and our TBC friends met up in lobby of our building, hopped in a van and headed for the Great Wall. We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which was about an hour and a half drive away. I was super glad to have visited the Mutianyu section because it still has the natural beauty and awe associated with the Great Wall, but there are hardly as many tourists there as other more popular sections of the wall. Instead of feeling like a tourist trap, it felt more like a small community that has taken advantage of being so close to the famous landmark, with many little restaurants and shops on the way up to the mountain.
Once the driver dropped us off, we got our tickets and began the hike up the mountain. It was not very long hike, but there were many steep steps up with a beautiful view of the forest surrounding the wall. Once we got to the wall it felt very surreal. I’ve seen so many pictures of it in books and on the internet that it was crazy to see it with my own eyes. You could see the amount of attention to detail that went into restoring and maintaining it, and the grey bricks contrasted the green forest very well. It was stunning and I hope to return to see it in the snow because I bet it looks even more astonishing then.
We hiked back and forth on the wall for a couple miles after that. It was foggy the day we went, which contributed to the atmosphere and made it feel like the wall just went on forever. The towers were the highlight of the wall. The inside of the towers had a simple design with these big arched windows that looked out among the mountains. It felt almost like I had found a hidden spot in Minecraft. A few of the towers even had stairs and a second level so we were able to go on top and get an ariel view of the wall and the mountains. The inclines and declines of the wall had many small shallow steps, which was difficult for my big feet, but it was easy just to continue strolling along the wall. There were many carved out sections along the sides of the wall which gave many places to stop and stare, and when you looked down you realized just how tall the structure is.
The way down from the Great Wall was an unexpected highlight of the trip. On the way up I had seen the long metal slide going down the mountain, and I was super excited to find out that’s how we were getting down. I have seen many videos of people zipping down these metal slides on toboggans, so to get to do it myself, at the Great Wall of all places, was very fun. There was a long line to get to the slide, but once you got there you got to slide down the mountain on a toboggan like some sort of video game. There was a lever between my legs that controlled the brakes and accelerator, and while I tried to use the break as little as possible, there were many lifeguards along the slide that made me use the brakes so that I didn’t go flying off the slide on every curve. Once we got off the slide we got some Burger King for lunch, and then everybody fell right to sleep once we got in the van to head back to campus. I felt very grateful to be able to see such a famous landmark that many westerners don’t get the change to visit. It was a very surreal experience, and I definitely want to go back before I leave.
By Fall 2024 Student Thomas Helm
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