This blog is titled "The Great Wall Adventure" and the purpose behind the name was I'd be in China and the Great Wall is a staple of China.... I still believe this, but China is so so so much more than just the Great Wall. Also, It took me ten months to get to the Great Wall. But it was a heck of a trip there.
I arrived in BJ (Beijing) from Xi'an on Thursday morning. (I had to think about that for a bit... all the days blur together when you're traveling) We took the subway to our 'home' for the weekend, and then gathered camping supplies and headed out to the Great Wall. Another friend, Mike, borrowed a car from a friend and was able to take all the supplies while the rest of us subway/bus/taxied out to the rendezvous point. We hiked up into the woods about 10 or 15 minutes and chose a prime camping point, and then hiked another 20 minutes to the base of the wall. The section we were near is called the 'wild wall' because its overgrown heavily. We crawled into the base, and up to the top of the wall and took a look around. We returned to camp, and each of us had a job. I started the fire, Becca helped with wood, Ben and Kirstin and Thomas set up camp a bit, Micah and Hannah and Nate were all over getting supper ready. We made spaghetti. Mike drove back into town to get Jen from the train station. Its about an hour or so by car.
After dinner we gathered around the fire and talked and sang.. FoC loves to sing. The rain set it about that time, and we scrambles to set up tents. I should mention that upon initial attempts to set up the four tents we brought, only three of them had poles, and some of the rain flys didn't match up. The group decided that it was nice, and we all had sleeping bags, so we would just sleep under the stars. Rain shot that plan in the face, and so there were were.... Setting up mismatched tents in the dark, in the rain, and among friends. Again, it was Hannah that chimed in with a quintessential quote, "Getting stuck in the rain alone is miserable, but getting stuck in the rain with friends is an adventure." And we expanded that to our whole ordeal. It could have sucked, been awful, full of complaints, and huddling in tents. But we laughed through it, sang through it and kept the fire going to dry off as we got wet. =)
It was about 1 am when we turned in, and the girls tent had five of us. So I channeled my inner sardine for about an hour and a half, and then decided to just get up. I rustled up the fire, and got a good flame going and a short bit later a few others woke up and headed up to the wall to try and see a sunrise. (still raining , mind you) I had just climbed 6000+ meters on Wed. and decided to tend the fire. Later in the morning, we all were relaxing around the fire, and suddenly the rain quit, the sun came out and broke up the clouds and blue sky appeared like a gift from G-d. We packed up camp a bit, and then headed up to the wall because blue sky! That second trip to the Wall was soooooo worth the rain and no sleep. I could see for miles, the wall stretched along the ridge, nestled into the dark green of foliage around it.... We climbed up to a turret and just gazed in awe at the ancient technology that created the wall, and the blessings of a crisp blue sky filled with fluffy clouds.
The only tainting in my mind was the idea of the Great Wall in its original form and also its current state. I would have loved to see the wall when it was built. To have seen its glory, how the rocks fit together and were patrolled to watch for mongols.... But then again the wall workers died by the thousands during construction and the wall didn't even serve its purpose. But also.... I would love to see it today had it been untouched by humans. To see what nature would do to it.... Because even the section of 'wild' that we explored was rebuilt some. The bricks were too new, not nearly enough erosion for how old the wall is..... But I did get to see two ancient wonders in less than a week. Both of them older than Jesus. Wow.....
But my legs were yelling at me again because of the hiking. haha.
The last thing for the day was the car ride home. Mike's friend loaned him a car. A Jeep Compass. Its a mini SUV. Seats five with a 'trunk' space. Well..... We had nine people and all our gear in the Jeep for the ride home...... Mike driving, Thomas in the passenger seat, Nate on the center console with stools and bags around them. Becca in the trunk space stuffed with bags and sleeping bags and gear around her. Then back seat was Hannah, Kirstin, Ben and I on the seat.... or mostly.... with stuff around our legs and then Jen sprawled across the top of us. It was one heck of an adventure and we all poured out of the car after the hour n half ride into town with indents on our legs of gear and other people, and a few of us couldn't feel lower extremities anymore..... Ha!
It's something that only happens once and is told forever. I made one comment that seemed to sum up the whole experience. I said "bases happened".... as it 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the back of a car..... (raise one eyebrow) We are all closer because of that ride. Haha
Until next time.
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