After 152 days of avoiding the large groups of tourists traveling behind a tour guide with flag, today we became one with them. Usually it’s Chinese tourists in other countries, today we were part of a group of non-Chinese tourists in China. The tables have turned.

There were many ways to get to the Great Wall: by taxi, private tour, or group bus tour. We went with the bus tour because it was cheapest. Here is the picture they took of us:

We set off at 7:15 and met our group at 7:45. We had a 1.5hr bus ride in which our tour guide spoke way too loud into a PA system for entire way. Luckily once we arrived we were able to split off from the group and explore on our own.

We waited in a line to take the lift up to the top. Millie rode with Nick and I tamed my anxiety at how high up we were without a great harness system.

As we reached the top we could start to see the wall. It’s always magical to see something so iconic in real life for the first time. I got the same awestruck feeling I got when seeing the pyramids and Stonehenge. It’s hard to believe that this goes on for thousands of miles and that people built it.

We first did the East section which was strenuous but not too long. Just lots and lots of steps. It was still somewhat early and not crazy busy.

Once we reached the end of this section we rode back down to the bottom. This was 100x more fun than going up because we got to ride the toboggans!

At the bottom we took a bathroom break and ate some snacks. We had cucumber not-Pringles. They were good but sweet. Something we have noticed here is that everything is sweetened, even things we expect to be savory.

Then we rode back up to a different section on the gondola.

This section was much easier to walk, but also much busier. Not great for photos, but great for people watching. It’s surprising how few American tourists are in China.

We did a ton of walking and my quads were quiverin’. It started to rain lightly and we took that as our cue to head back down.

Men here will pull up their shirts like this. It is known as a “Beijing bikini” – Millie noticed and wanted to fit in.

We had a very late lunch at a buffet at the bottom and then got on the bus back to Beijing. All three of us fell asleep and woke up as they were announcing our arrival. We took a taxi back to our hotel, watched a movie, and went to bed early.