The Great Steep Overgrown Wall of China!

Yup.... there I am, there it is....good times had by all!

So I was sitting at the pub a couple weeks ago drinking a lukewarm almost non-alcoholic Chinese fatty beer, when I looked up and saw a sign that read "Camping on the Great Wall"... first of all, I'm not a chick that likes to camp. But hey, for a fee, these people would move me, feed me and guide me along a decent chunk of the Great Wall of China. More than decent actually, a recently renovated not touristy section. Hmmmmm could be worth the camping part! At any rate, my friend Liz and I decided to do it, as clearly we are too lazy and too mandarin deficient to organize it ourselves. So we showed up at the meeting place (note the meeting place: Nan Jie BAR...hahaha that's how you know you're in good company!), met the tour guide and other campers and away we went. I should mention too, quite randomly, there was a producer who was shooting the entire trip for a short 5 minute film to appear on Current TV later this summer. He requested we sign waivers and appreciate. Now, with an ego like mine, I just couldn't help but participate. Besides, the camera was always in our face, how were any of us going to refuse. So we piled in the van and hit the road :)
Perhaps the most hilarious thing about this little jaunt was the unexpected work out we got from the very first step we took towards the wall. We literally rolled up along side it and hiked up the side of a mountain for 20 minutes weaving from one switch back to the next while carrying a tent, a sleeping bag and the bag with all our stuff in it. I was relived once I got to the Great Wall, thinking naively that it would get easier, only to find that the relief was a figment of my imagination and we were to trudge on up the rocks at roughly a 45 degree angle. A piece of cake!

I'm not joking around, I mean STEEP!

Not gonna lie, initially this part, which I believe was the steepest we did, intimidated me. How could it not! I was wearing my $20 keds from target, they're not exactly equipped for such terrain.
However once you're up there and you start to take in the view, you really do forget about your fatigue. The view of the mountains, as well as the wall, was spectacular and well worth the effort.

Clearly the hike took a lot out of everyone.... it was nice to see that I wasn't the only one out of breathe :) In fact, good for you China...because were I a Mongolian, I probably wouldn't have gone to the effort of breaching those walls. It was hard enough without being attacked by patrolling Chinese soldiers.

Out of breath, very out of breath

Note the awesome fake Armani hat.... China... love it!
I love not being the only one exhausted from hiking 15 minutes.
(FYI: This chick is my coworker)

After we threw down our stuff we were then told we were to hike up another 20 minutes to a vista point for the sunset. REALLY! But at least there was incentive. The tour guide brought along a bottle of wine to crack open once we reached the top. At that moment I knew I had made a sound choice in selecting this tour group in particular :)

SO PRETTY!

Once the sun had set, we went down the wall back to the van.

Nearly tumbled and rolled is more like it.

Next we went to a local farm for dinner. This was perhaps the best food I have had so far in China. You all know that when I arrived in Beijing, I was a bit Chinese-Food-Shy, to say the least. However in the past 6 weeks, after eating it about every day, I've really come to like it. Look at me growing up! And this food really was delicious. Beer and wine was also available, but I've never been so self-controlled with alcohol in my life.... call me crazy but I didn't want to get wasted THEN have to hike up the bloomin' Great Wall of China, tripping and stumbling as I go due to intoxication. Again, I'm really growing up. HA!

Mmmmmmm (never thought I'd be saying that when staring at Chinese food)

Believe it or not I was the first one up the next morning, at 6:18am. I guess it was the sun coming through the tent. OR perhaps it was the utter discomfort of sleeping on rocks! Either way, good for me getting up early and having first dibbs on coffee.

Once everyone was up and fed. Breakfast by the way, was impressive for a) China and b) camping. We had real coffee made in a french press, Chinese doughnuts (I don't really know how to describe these) and banana.

The Great Wall of China can also serve as a buffet table.

Next we hiked. And hiked, and hiked some more. The weather was great, not a cloud in the sky or a drop of rain in the air, a rarity for China this time of year. It was all good fun, be it up hill or down, stairs or slopes. The first part was the restored section of the wall. Oh and just because I refer to it as restored, is not to imply easy. By no means was the restored section any easier from the overgrown section. Well to be fair, at least the restored section didn't have weeds and saplings whipping at our legs as we walked, so there's that.

He took pictures of me... so I took pictures of him!

This is the part where the tour guide, Chandler, had to pull each of us up to the next part of the Wall because the gap was too big. He's something of a monkey, so clearly he did not need assistance. So essentially, I was hanging off the Great Wall of China by some dude named Chandler's arm.... clearly not your average day. Am I glad I don't have a fear of heights!

The group.....really really really tired at 11:30am after hiking for 4 hours. Nice!

The rest of the trip was pretty easy. We went back to the farm and ate sandwiches and then got back in the van Beijing bound. Once we arrived back in Beijing, the guide, Chandler, took us out for a complimentary "clearly you're tired and need a cold one" beer :) My kind of tour, what more can I say :)