Trek Across The Great Wall of China

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Absolutely. breathtaking. experience.

The Great Wall of China, and the view from it, surpassed all expectations for me (and that's not to say I wasn't expecting it to be great). Standing upon the wall, one can look in any direction and see an endless mountain range fade into the horizon. There's no sign whatsoever of human civilisation except for the very wall upon which you stand and it too seems to go on endlessly.

We entered the wall from the Jinshanling entrance. Jinshanling is relatively off the beaten track and for the first 10km of our journey, I didn't see one other tourist. Our chosen path on the Wall consisted mostly of walking along areas which had not been restored by the Chinese Govt. There was vegetation growing along it and it’s a lot more rough (and fun) than the restored zones,

The Chinese Military was in control of some land and we had to take a detour, through the range, to get back onto the wall. Looking back, it was awesome and I'm hectic glad that we had to head into the Chinese jungle but at the time I was wishing I was wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt 'cos I got pretty scratched up along the way by the overgrowth. Ah well, that's the price one pays to not be wearing sleeves and pants for the smoother side of the trek.

While we were in the "jungle", six of us got lost. That would have been pretty baad had they not somehow stumbled upon a nearby village. One chick from the UK, Gemma was so gutted at the thought of not getting back on the Wall again but all was good when they were able to catch a bus to another entrance and meet us further up. It was pretty nuts when we were walking and saw them up ahead, like "HOW THE F…. did you get ahead of us?!"

Pats on the back go to Chris, Prue, Frida, Clare, Sandy, Kate and the mighty Ed for decided to trek another 10km on top of the 10 we'd already done. They looked truly exhausted when they walked into the guesthouse at 7.30pm that night.

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Photos

Marching away
not quite knowing what we're in for ahead

The unmaintained stretch of Great Wall we trekked on
Notice the overgrowth and lack of safety walls

Refurbished wall
Heaps different to original Great Wall

Going off track
Me up front

In the Chinese jungle
Chris and Kirsten

Livin' Off The Wall...
Humming MJ tunes as we trek past a no entry zone that's in a military controlled area.

Me and Commando
Leaning against the Great Wall having an icy pole... awesome.