Great Wall

We went with the Chinese Culture Club to the Great Wall, hiking along it about 10km from Jinshanling to Simatai (map). When I visited the wall at Badaling about 10 years ago, I came away with the impression that the Great Wall was better as a concept than in reality. However the part we visited today, with less drastic reconstruction and fewer tourists and touts, is a much grander experience. The day turned out very misty however, and although the wall stretching into the haze has a certain appeal when you are there, it doesn't tranlsate well into photos. Here are some anyway!


Near Jinshanling


General's Tower

The area around Beijing is incredibly dry, and almost nothing grows this time of year except wild cherry trees (I think), which grow in the foothills and right up to the Wall.


Cherry Blossom
Some of the walk along the wall involves steep climbs.


Steep Climb


One of the guides with us kept calling the something that sounded like "Wild Animal". When I asked him about this he said it was a mistranslation of the Chinese characters, but sometimes the wall does seem like a serpent snaking along the mountain tops.


Wild Animal

We walked past 37 towers. This is the view from one of them.


The walk ended at Simatai. Just past here the Wall soars up the mountains again. Maybe we'll try to come back on a clearer day!


Near Simatai