The Great Wall which is actually NOT visible from space.

There were two things that I wanted to do when I initially came to Japan. One- climb Mt. Fuji check August 2008. Two- see the Great wall of China CHECK April 30, 2010. I arrived in China on April 29 to visit my friend from college, Katherine Crawford. The first thing we decided to do was tackle the Wall. It was a beautiful day for it. The sky was clear and visibility was high, which is rather rare in a city with a population of 13.8 million people polluting it.

I had always been told that the Great Wall was so big that it could be seen by the naked eye from space, but while doing a little reading I learned that this was in fact not true, which was rather disappointing, oh well. It was still super cool.

We took a taxi ride up to the wall and were able to see some nice country side on the way. It wasn't too crowded even though it is a holiday this weekend. There were a lot of school groups visiting and a lot of foreigners as well.


As you walk up to the wall you pass dozens of stalls with Chinese people selling typical touristy goods. The vendors don't just sit back and let you browse; they come up to you and point out all of the great things they are selling while telling what a good price it is and what great quality it is. This is not really my preferred method of shopping so I was a little bit out of my comfort zone. We did a little bit of shopping on the way down, so I'll talk more about it later.

The actual wall was pretty amazing, especially when you consider it was begun 200 years before Christ. According to the Lonely Planet, "An estimated 180 million cubic meters of rammed earth were used to form the core of the original wall, and legend has it that one of building materials used was the bodies of deceased workers." The wall never really worked as a security measure, bribing the guards was not too difficult. However it did perform well as a highway for goods to pass through the mountainous terrain of China.

The wall received a face lift during the Ming dynasty when it was refaced with stones and brick slabs. The project lasted over a century and resulted in huge cost of resources and human life.

The Wall fell into disrepair after that and was basically forgotten and would probably have disappeared without the rescue of the tourist industry. Yah for tourists!

Kat and I visited the section of the wall called Mutianyu. It dates from the Ming dynasty. It is a beautiful section of the wall with many guard towers and great views of the wall carving through the mountains in the distance.

I commented while we were up there that man had made the wall, but God made the mountains. I thought the mountains were incredibly beautiful up there. We wandered around and took a ton of pictures. We even saw two brides having wedding photos taken. They were very beautiful.

After taking in the gorgeous views at the top we rode the cable car back down to where the vendors were selling their wares. I bought the quintessential Great Wall souvenir, a t-shirt with a picture of the Great Wall that says "I climbed the Great Wall" in English and Chinese. I also got a great deal on a beautiful red table runner and had an interesting experience buying a quilted wall hanging.

I saw these quilts with pandas on them and immediately thought of my grandma who makes quilts. I wanted to get one for her. After asking the price and looking at it, I decided that it wasn't worth what he was asking, so I walked off. We didn't even make an counter offer. The vendor literally chased Kat and I down while continuing to shout lower prices. We found the entire experience extremely comical and were laughing at the situation that we had found ourselves in. Kat said she had never been chased by a vendor like that. I eventually got the quilt, because he was trying so hard and had actually come down to a realistic price.

All in all, it was a great day on THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!!!!