The Wild Great Wall of China ~ Most Authenic

Photo of our FABULOUS, FUN GROUP who shared our lovely, fantastic adventure in China, '09
Story below with other photos...

How far from Beijing to the Great Wall?
About an hour by bus. From our bus, we
began to see parts of the incredible Wall ~ meandering over mountains and dropping into valleys and then going on ~ and on. History has the Great Wall to have been originally be some 6,000 miles long, however today there is said to be 4000 miles left.

We drove past the entrance for most tourist and continued on to seek out the WILD, and natural part of the Wall. Perfect, as no one was there except the 14 of us and 2 Chinese Soldiers.

From any angle, it was as expected from photos and TV specials.

I thought of the little girl crouched on knees exploring the National Geographic Magazines and reading about and seeing exotic places
that would go on her Wish List ...now referred to as a "Bucket List." (Things you would like to do before you die.)

In my memory, the little girl was then about eight years old and loved Aunt Zora's collection of the National Graphics.
They took her to places that didn't seem possible to be part of this world.

This Wall was the most unlikely to really see, as China was a closed and well guarded country at the time. My list...

The Amazon River,

The Nile River and Pyramids,

Hawaii, and The Great Wall of China.

This was the entire list

for the little girl who loved National Graphic Magazines.

Now that little girl was going to see not only the Great Wall, but a most important part~

We were going to a part of the Great Wall which is known as "Wild."
To see the WILD GREAT WALL is to see how it stands today...un-restored for tourism.
WOW... the original and authentic ...Only added wooden steps to make it safe to climb up the mountain to the peak.
WOW...going to climb up THERE?

Off the bus and walking up the dirt trail ~about a quarter of a mile, we

passed by part of the Wall that has collapsed and piled in a heap of rubble of stone

This is part of the Wall which has fallen and stacked back out of the way of the path.

This photo shows our path to a roughly constructed rock steps, outlined with hand rail which was our path upward to the Wall. Not these stones...but farther down the path...Climbing up to the Wall was no easy feat. About 100 steps...and then...900 more steps to the top of the mountain...1000 steps we were told was the climb~

If you notice a little extra weight around the waists...that disappeared by the end of the 1st week in China...

The little girl completes her "Bucket List~" I think of being at the top of this mountain and

wondering how it must be when it rains, or snows and wonder the beauty of sunset. I was an exhilarating experience to say the least.

My History teacher once said, "Read, study, and learn so that you will have something to think about when old." She was right.

If you see the opening in the floor of the Wall, we started down to see if the Wall had a room down there, however, were called back saying we would not allowed to go down there. For sure, it is an original staircase to enter the Great Wall. Perhaps soldiers took shelter, slept and lived when they were building or guarding the wall. I still think about that mystery.

Day 3 The Cinnabar Factory PLUS THE GREAT WALL of CHINA

Excited as a person could be over the trip to The Great Wall, I sort of wished we didn't have a morning at the Cinnabar Lacquer Factory, however, later realized it was a perfect plan.


The first thing I see that had always been on my "wish list" was the Screens~ I stood looking at this one. Every aspect of it was totally perfect~ (I shouldn't have gone to this place).

Nothing would do but have it shipped home. Due mid-November...it is taking a slow boat from China.

The next item that I knew was going on with us was the most beautiful Carved Cinnabar Lacquer vase.

The art work that goes into them is fascinating, to say the least...we walked the factory to see Chinese women hand-carving vases...tiny instruments and electric sanders.



On the right I am writing my name on the one that will be shipped to us

. Wouldn't chance carrying it around for the rest of the trip.

Then we go to lunch~ The spread of food for all three meals for the 22 days we were together were beautiful and each meal brought new surprises. They only serve sliced watermelon for dessert.

Eating healthy and walking 3 or so miles per day was the best thing for all of us. I lost 15 pounds.