We left KL on Oct. 31 at 12:35 a.m. ~ crappy time and I was totally dreading it, but the kids stayed up for the most part and did ok. After 4 gate changes in 2 hrs at KLIA, which involved taking trains to different builings, we boarded and the kids fell asleep almost instantly. We landed in Beijing at 6:35 a.m. and Jeremy had arranged for a driver to pick us up and take us directly to the Great Wall. All went smoothly and we were at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall by 9 a.m. We chose this section because of the Gondola ride up...otherwise it's a long hike to get onto the wall. It was very easy to do with the kids. I had my new Ergo Baby backpack which was awesome. It helped carry Hayden around the airport and on the wall. We spent about 2 hours walking, first down, then up. The climb was tough as it is very vertical, which you don't notice when you are going down. After we got to the top, my ever supportive and helpful husband, Steve, mentioned that had we kept going down, we would have come across another chair lift and the slide...thanks! It was a beautiful warm fall day ~ I think about 22 degrees and perfect for being outside in the fresh air
By the time we got off the wall, the driver took us to the apartment Jeremy had arranged for us. It was really nice and we had nice, warm showers and baths and a really long nap ~ all of us! Then we went to a nearby Pizza place as it was easy and we didn't need any translation of the menu! Let me tell you, we all slept well that night!
miles and miles and miles of wall...it is absolutely amazing!
The view from the wall was stunning as well...especially with the fall colours!
The box like thing in the distance is another tower on the wall. Gives you a little perspective of how far the wall stretches. I've heard 2 different facts and I'm too lazy to check them out, so you can look both of them up...one says there is 6000km of wall, another says almost 10 000 km. All built by manual labour and high on top of hills and mountains....utterly amazing!
Inside one of the watch towers.
Packing Hayden in the Ergo Baby...one of the biggest difficulty with the walking the wall is that it is very uneven. The rise of one stair will be about 6 inches, then the next will be a foot. It was a good workout and I'm glad I had spent a lot of time running before this!
Hayden checking things out with the binos...he actually thought they were a camera and would put them to his eyes and say "click, I just took a picture"
miles and miles and miles of wall...it is absolutely amazing!
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