July 27 - The Great Wall

July 27:  Climbing The Great Wall of China

There were three stops on the "Imperial Jewels of China" Viking Cruise adventure that I had circled

as MUST HAVE photo ops. The first was the Shibaozhai Temple, the second was the Terra Cotta Warriors, and the third, and most obvious was the Great Wall of China. Anticipation ran high among our group today as everyone wanted to climb the wall and have their photo taken. We were scheduled to leave the hotel before 7 am to beat as much of the morning traffic as possible and still it would be a ninety minute drive. As we approached The Wall we got a glimpse of it from afar and soon there after we came to a newly renovated section of The Wall the bus slowed and you could see the very steep incline to climb up. Our guide Iowa told us that they did NOT want to take us to this section because it was NOT STEEP ENOUGH! I am sure that most people on the bus had the same feeling that I had that this looked pretty steep. Despite our early departure there was a lot of traffic congestion at the wall itself once we arrived. But we were soon there. We got a real treat as Iowa led us to a photo spot and we posed for a group picture taken by a professional photographer. Better yet we were offered the opportunity to buy the photo and it would come in a photo book with many pages of shots of the Great Wall for a minimum price. The group photo is below with the wall in the background. At that point we were given 1 1/2 hour to explore the wall in either (or both) directions and climb as high as we wanted. 

Honestly from watching videos on the Viking website and others on YouTube and from having read travel blogs etc. my impression was that you could climb high up The Wall but that the majority of your exploration along The Wall was relatively level. Oh no my friends. An initial section was at a fairly good, but not so bad incline. And then you went up the first steep incline. You came to a platform / observation area and when the video is posted you'll see I did a 360 degree panoramic shot. Then we began the ascent. The initial section we did was a really, REALLY steep incline and the traction was not the best. In addition the views through the ramparts let you know you were HIGH above the ground. We came to a relatively level area and then even more steep steps led the way even higher (see at right). These steps were very difficult to climb and they were well over a foot to a foot and a half high. Then another section of very steep inclined walk. At that point my heart was racing and I was really short of breath and with my "condition" I decided enough was enough. Kim went on a little higher and had an adventure - she came across a guy who had either collapsed or tripped and she helped stablize him until paramedics arrived. While I sat on an inclined portion of the wall trying to recover and catch my breath I met three Chinese teens. We tried to talk and take a photo but it was very difficult to communicate, so we largely laughed with and at each other :) About twenty minutes passed before Kim came and we began the descent. As difficult as going up the stairs and incline had been the going down was worse. It was very difficult to go down the steep steps without holding the rail, and the drop from one to the other seemed even higher going down. Then the inclined part, if you didn't hold the rail you could hardly stop yourself from breaking into a jog! We soon were at the bottom and we were oh-so-proud of ourselves for having climbed the Great Wall of China! Once we sat down at the bottom I checked my pulse because I knew it was still elevated....typically I hover at a very low 56-60 rate - after having "calmed down" my pulse registered at 102! It had been a great exercise! 

After The Wall we went for lunch, did some shopping at a jade jewelry shop and visited the Ming Dynasty tombs "Sacred Way." We did not get back to the hotel until nearly 3 pm where Iowa signed all the books and wrote each of our names in Chinese!