So when I had the chance to go visit China I didn't think about it twice, even if it was in the bitterly cold month of February in Beijing. It can't be as bad as Chicago in the winter I thought, and I was so wrong. My first sight seeing experience in China involved walking in the Forbidden City with high winds at 20 degrees fahrenheit. Trying to do sight seeing in that weather was one of the worst experiences of my life. After this, I was a little bit more prepared when I had to go to the great wall, so I put on six layers of clothing and brought my chinese army hat, which was the only hat I could buy in the only store opened in Beijing during Chinese New Year week. 

   We went to a section of the wall in Badaling, which has the most preserved section of the wall. The wall was beyond my wildest expectations. The chinese don't make such a big deal about it but they're starting to recognize its tourism potential.

Great Wall in Badaling, China

• It's more than 2,000 years old
• It's one of the seven wonders in the world
• It's 4,500 miles long
• It stretches from the ocean, through mountains, forests and deserts
• It has lots of stairs
• It takes like two hours to get to the top of the wall
• It feels like you just ran the marathon once you get on top
• Small chinese children have no problem climbing it and then running around at the top.

  Apparently this part of the wall gets so crowded with tourists during summer that you can't even stop and take photos, so I guess we were lucky after all to go during the winter when we had entire segments of the wall just for ourselves.

     I can write endlessly about the mystical experience of walking on the wall and the whole nature-man made structures harmony but I think the pictures talk by themselves, so I posted a bunch of photos in here.

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