The Great Wall, The Lost Camera and I.

---

I must say that 2 years have almost passed since I've been to Beijing, therefore my memory may be a bit hazy, but the one thing I will never forget was the indescribable feeling I got when I reached the top of The Great Wall. I was in Beijing for football (soccer) tournament that took place in the year 2011 and at first I thought it was all going to be about football and nothing else, but that was very naive of me. When I was there i remember thinking this will not go as planned and football had to be patient with me until I got rid of the inner nomad that wanted to explore Beijing out of my body. It all went well I explored and explored until I was full not just from the exploring but the food too, I loved Beijing food, it was the usual rice, noodles and what not but I loved it and also tried food that would be no no's in my religion, tried them without hesitation and loved every single bit of it. P.s my teammates weren't big fan of the meals. Lastly it was time to go to a more natureish place, a place where we could actually see the sky and the clouds and take in fressh oxygen, you know what I am trying to say about the city by this (it is polluted)(the smoke has literally blocked the sky-impossible to see the clouds).

So when we got to the Great Wall we had two options, first was to take the cable car and enjoy the ride and the second option was to take the stairs and die on the way, as a footballer I chose the more dangerous route and decided to take the stairs. I still remember every step I took, not forgetting that every step forces you to stretch to the limit, it isn't a simple hop hop but more like massive steps each time. Everyone was sweating and we all had our shirts of and i was doing something original, I would record myself every 5 minutes and say something like "it is 13:45 pm here in Beijing and we are currently on the 785th stair". I would repeatedly say funny things as such to keep my mind intact and not loose focus.

After a good hour or so I reached the top and I was so tired, I didn't even want to take another single step, but then I turn to my left and I see Heaven. I mean heaven as in where God is, as I walked to the edge and looked up I felt as if I could touch the clouds and I looked down and felt as if I would not die if I were to fall from here, I don't know why I felt like that but all I knew at that moment was that I was.....I don't know what I knew at that point and I don't remember much of it but for some reason I still get butterflies and little tickles whenever I think about the moment I stood on top of the world, very close to the Heavens.

The funny thing about my trip was that I left my camera that had more than 1000 pictures at Honk Kong airport, did I mention I left it in the toilet. We were on our way back via Hong Kong and I went to use the bathroom for a good 5 minutes, okay a good 20 minutes, I had eaten too much and was in need to release, anyway I left my camera on top, you know where you press to flush and 20 minutes later I leave the toilet a lot happier than i was when I entered, but what I had not realized was that I did not take my camera with me. Anyway 5 minutes later I see something amazing and reach in my bag for my camera when it hit me and so I ran back in but it was gone, I notified the front desk and they told me that there is a good chance the cleaners might have taken it and gave me a card with their info, so that i would call when i arrived in Australia and it would be shipped.

It is now 2014 and i am siting here in my college/hotel room in Perugia, Italy, yet to still contact them, reason being, I've lost the card and still don't have my camera. But I am the kind of guy who leaves everything up to fate and of course this gives me a reason to go back. By far the best time of my life, from the food to the loss of my camera.

---