It truly was great.... (Marcus)

Of course that can only refer to the Great Wall of China. To be perfectly honest I didn't know exactly how I would find it, but both myself and Courtney were thoroughly impressed.

We climbed on a section of the wall in a place called Simatai. Simatai is reputedly one of the best spots to view the wall for several key reasons. First and foremost, it's one of the further ones away from Beijing, I believe around 110 km's, which is around a 3 hour drive give or take depending on traffic.

In China, a 'lack of' tourists is basically impossible- everywhere you go, so do they, however if you're smart you can be at certain places with greatly reduced numbers and it makes an extreme difference to the overall experience.

We signed up for a tour to Simatai through the hostel. This tour involved simply going to the wall, climbing it for a good 3 hours or so, then an hour for lunch at a farmer's restaurant, then heading home - that's it! No Ming Tombs(which would be good to see but not really worth it on its own), no being dragged through gem museums and factories or halls full of sovenirs so the tour operator can get a sizeable cut for every tourist he manages to bring along; there was none of that, and that was precisely what we wanted.

Our tour involved the tour guide(who didn't really do anything other than lead us to the wall then let us go and explore), the driver(stayed in the van) and a father and son from Holland and a couple from Germany. It was nice and small and unobtrusive as when we got to the wall we all went our seperate ways - well there was only really one direction to go...up!

So Simatai is known for being a lot quieter than a place called Badaling which is absolutely infested with tourists. Badaling is only 70 or so kilometres from Beijing city and you are apparently shoulder to shoulder with fellow tourists and hawkers. Both Badaling and Simatai are restored portions of the wall - along with another place called Mutianyu, but the one at Simatai is so well restored you wouldn't know the difference betweeen original and restored parts anyway.

We went to the wall yesterday, a few days previous to the Temple of Heaven and today we went to the Forbidden City - oh and somewhere in there a huge Tibetan Lama Temple which was also very beautiful to walk through. All of these were packed full of people. You can barely photograph anything other than the rooves without getting a handful of people in the shot. The wall yesterday was very quiet; sure there were people present, but nowhere near like the other 3 attractions. It made all the difference.

So I wasn't sure what I would think of the wall. You see it on TV and in photographs - hell we all know what it looks like, and I am not really one to get all hyped up and super excited about something just because it is was it is, but the wall yesterday was very impressive.

The Chinese are super proud of their country for a number of reasons, and the feat of building such a wall is right up there near the top of those. This is where our view and theirs clearly differs. To the Chinese, the wall is just a feat - an absolute marvel. Look at it! Winding across the mountaintops like some beautiful dragon! Surely this is in at least the top 3 of the seven wonders of the world!!

However...then we have our western view of the same structure - yeah, it is impressive alright - it's a big curly wall over some of the most precipitous mountains you'll see(I should mention here that this is another main feature of the Simatai portion of wall - it's super steep and offers superb views of the surrounding mountains) which makes us think, who the HELL were they expecting to attack over these pointy mountaintops?? The mongols? They I believe were one of the chief enemies at the time..but weren't they mostly strong horsemen raiders? I think anyone who could ride a horse over where the wall was situated bloody deserves to own that particular piece of land.

So we have this magnificent structure - a feat that was only created by throwing thousands upon thousands of lives at it to create it. Yeah many many people died making it - soliders, political prisoners, jail bait etc etc - and also on ground that basically you'd have to be nuts to attack in the first place. History tells that in several places the wall was actually assaulted - four times I believe, and all four times the wall proved useless and was overwhelmed anyway. Yeah, what a marvel! However according to books, it did serve as a good highway system allowing goods to be transported along the mountains, and it's beacon system also allowed the movement of enemies to be quickly reported back to the capital - but but but! (cynic aside) the Chinese and Western views of it being 'great' definitely differ. While they beam up at it with pride, we certainly look on it with awe and a sense of respect, but there's definitely a smirk plastered there as well.

We had good luck with the weather - this was my main fear for the visit. Heavy rain was forecast and it rained all day the day previous. The weather was a bit drizzly in the morning, but it was a LOT cooler, and by the time we got to the wall, it was still cool with a bit of a breeze and mostly cloudy. Thank god we didn't get today's weather yesterday as today has been absolutely _stinking_ hot. By the time we got to the top of the wall(meaning as far along it as we had real time for) the temperature was really picking up and by the time we were back down the bottom it was really quite hot, so it worked out well.

Visibility was also superb. The day previous was quite smoggy/misty, but the wall day? Fantastic and this added up to making our visit to the wall a really terrific experience. While the wall itself was impressive to look at, the countryside it was located in was just magnificent. All around us we could see for absolute miles - the wall being nestled amongst a combination of jagged and rolling hillsides. It was actually far more fertile and lush than I thought it would have been - I have seen many photos where it seems to be surrounded by scrubby bushland.

Because the day started out wet, the cable car system that could take you around halfway up to the middle of the wall was not functioning. Now this particular fact worried us initially as it was a considerable distance from the carpark at the bottom to where the wall actually started.

The Wall here had two portions, east and west, seperated by a lake and valley. To the west(where we climbed) it's the steepest and there are 13 watch towers along it until it gets too dangerous to continue. To the east it's similar but not as steep or picturesque.

So as we approached the wall itself from a bricked path that lead to it(of course picking up some hawkers along it trying to sell us t-shirts(i think you could even find chinese hawkers underwater in some parts)), we were alarmed at just how steep the wall was. When we got onto it...christ sake it was almost vertical, and even better, the bricks that made up the steps were seemingly made for Chinese sized feet(ie about half my foot size). If it was hot and we had to carry an umbrella(as we have been doing as the heat from the sun is vicious), we would have had considerable issues. When I heard people talking about 'climbing the wall,' i thought it just meant, well going to the wall, but no, you are actually climbing it and initially it's pretty hardcore.

It got a little more manageable higher up, but sections of it were completely broken bricks - some not even being walled in, just a shelter of sorts. The towers were dotted intermintently along the way and these provided some ample rest shelter and a good vantage to take some photographs.

We didn't go along as far as we could - our time was very limited considering how long it took us just to walk to the wall itself. Rather than just gungho push our way up to the absolute highest point we enjoyed a more casual place, stopping to take photos and just enjoy the scenary. I made sure to give a few people a call as the novelty of calling from there was just too great to pass up - particularly to my Nana as the view I was seeing as I called her was something I could only wish she herself could see - she would have absolutely adored it - but alas, you need to be at least 50% action man to even get there - and Courtney and I are definitely no fitness beasts, but all the walking we've been doing has helped a little!

So we climbed, photographed then climbed back down, had what was a passable lunch then headed home.

All in all it was an amazing experience. The view from the wall was stunning - the wall itself, awe-inspiring. While I definitely don't share the same view as the Chinese as to the reasons for its greatness, there is truly no doubt that it is a great wall and something that anyone who comes to China simply must take the time to see.

I feel really happy that we saw it the way we wanted to see it. Walls of tourists and seas of stores selling souvenir crap really ruin the atmosphere of most of the well known attractions(for example the main alter in the Temple of Heaven...bleh) - we saw the wall in perfect weather conditions with absolutely minimal people present and best of all, the visibility was amazing. All of these factors combined to create a truly wonderful experience that we will never forget.

As we walked we had to pinch ourselves to remind ourselves that we were truly here. Sometimes it seems so surreal that we are actually doing the things we have been doing and I guess it just goes to show, that even when you feel stuck in the deepest darkest hole of repetition there is always somehow a way out.