The Wall of Walls; The Great Wall of China.

World you are so beautiful.

Welp. I am back.

I am going to write a separate post for each country I visited these last 18 days. First off China. I was so nervous about Beijing. I did not think I would be granted permission to enter the country because I did not have a visa. I had done a lot of research. Even after all that the information available online and in forums was vague. Anyway I still packed my bags ( and a red dress for a photo-shoot, why not?). When I first landed I could not find the signage that said " Apply for a 24, 72, or 144 hour visa here" according to all that I had read I was suppose to see tons of those signs....I started to get really nervous. I had already booked my hiking tour and my hotel, what would I do....

After walking and turning a couple meters I finally talked to someone who escorted me to the appropriate place for an on-arrival-visa....there was no one at the assigned booth. I was asked to wait there. I waited for what seemed to be a long 15 minutes but it was probably no longer than 5 minutes. Finally a woman in her authoritarian wear came over. She asked for my passport and then asked me how long I would be staying in the country, I promptly replied with " I will leave tomorrow morning at 8am" she quickly said "OK" and did not ask for further proof! I had purposefully gathered all my documents for the purpose of a visa, and all she said was ok?!?! I was baffled. To make matters even more interesting she could not for the life of her find the stamp to stamp my passport with ....what in the?! Anyhow after a lot of running back and fourth she finally found the stamp and I was stamped/approved to enter Beijing! I was so happy, it was way more simple than I imaged it would be.

I found my way out and waited to meet up with my prima. Yaxin our hike guide met us and off we went straight to our hike. When we finally arrived at The Great Wall I was mesmerized. We made it, we were starring at one of the wonders of the world. Yaxin was such a wonderful guy he told us the extensive history of which to be honest I only remember like 30% of what he said. Here is what I learned:

construction was ordered by Quin Shin Huang
Built before Jesus was alive
A lot about the Ming Dynasty
built to keep invaders out and to keep China as a powerful country
thousands of people died while constructing the wall
It is 13,170 miles long.

So happy to be alive, and be able to see and explore the wonders of the world.

That is all for now, but I learned tons.

So the Great Wall was great. It really is something to see in person. It was very windy and cold up on the hills during our hike and I do wish I would have taken a better sweater. I even did a lil photo session with my Chinese dress ;) ( after two hours of walking of course once I was warmed up)

And to come back down from our hike we had the option of hiking, using the toboggan slide or cable car. We opted for the slide and it was so fun! ( youtube video coming soon)

Our evening that day ended with a fabulous local dinner and a stroll around downtown Beijing. Strolling around downtown Beijing felt like going back in time. I enjoyed the yummy food and the beautiful red lanterns and slim alleys.