Not an ordinary wall!

Finally at last, I managed to find a full uninterrupted day free to take a day trip out to visit the
Great Wall of China. Unwilling to join a tourist bus, I decided to take a local one to the less visited site of Mutianyu. There are around four or more possiblities of where to go to see the wall, but I chose the 'cheats' one, that has a chair lift or cable car as possibilities of finding your
way to the top.

Inviting a student along for company and of course interpretaion, which proved to be quite easy as obviously there are many a traveller to this spot, not only foreigners, but Chinese too, we found our bus 916 at the long distance travel station quite easily. The one thing that one has to be careful of, is that you take the right bus from the right stop, as there are two possibilities, one taking a two and a half hour roundabout journey and the other using the highway, cutting the travel time down to half.

The bus a mere 11 yuan per person and quite clean and comfortable, had a helpful conductress too. At the bus station we had added to our party a couple from Spain, that felt there was more
chance on getting to the right place if they joined us. Upon arrival at the 'end of the line' we were
pounced upon by a number of mini bus drivers, all wishing to get our fare and after a short negotiation, of 10 yuan per person, we drove for half an hour to the appointed spot. This fee included the driver waiting for our return, irrelevant of how long that would be!

As we disembarked from our cab at the parking lot, I glanced up at the mountain. Having seen in the past the impressiveness of the Masada Fortress (Dead Sea, Israel), the wonder of the Pyramids in Egypt I was not sure what my reaction would be to the Great Wall itself. I can only say that it is awesome! From the distance one cannot see the work that went into it, but the sheer length and breadth is what makes it amazing.

Making our way up the path we now had to choose are method of getting to the top. The young couple chose to hike and myself and young companion, chose the open chair lift. He admittedly was non to sure about this, but seeing that I was embarking on this adventure with gusto, agreed to do it too. As the chair swinging in the gusty breeze, made its way up to the top, I felt exhilerated; here I was out under the blue sky, away from the stuffiness of the city, out in the fresh hair, making my way to an ancient wall, that would remind me of my home city in Jerusalem.

As I was tugged off the chair and guided out of the way of being hit by it, I made my way up the
cobble stoned path. Here one could feel the history and only wonder how they had got up there to build this amazing pass. Entering through one of the gates, you can only wonder at the magic of the place and memories of David Copperfield magician sprung into my mind. In front of you
besides the view between the turrets is a slabbed stairwell way, either turning to the east or west. Splitting from my young companion, leaving him to conquer the way from one end to the other, about a two and a half hour 'walk', I made my way up and down as many steps as I chose, pausing, stopping, looking in wonderment at this amazing site. Here I was, standing on one of the true wonders of the world, breathing in the clean air and lost in enthrallment!

I can only say, that the true beauty of this spot, is not where you are standing, but looking up into the higher mountain tops and seeing the uncleaned paths, the ones that are still covered in weeds, unattended and stunning high above the valley below. What engineering, what vision, what will and determination built this site. After a while, I just sat myself down on one of the steps and gazed around me; of course starting a trend, because when I looked back, I saw that I
had attracted a whole entourage of visitors, all perched or poised on different parts of the stairwell behind me!

What can I say in my defense, I seem to attract attention wherever I go, but did succeed in going
down in the chairlift without a peep or squeal!