长城

     There is something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. Well actually there are plenty of things I've aspired to since I was that little loner of a child. One of those very dreams finally came true last weekend. I hiked a part of the great wall.
   However, as the quirks of a history major go, I first wish to write about the history of this monument. The Great Wall itself started as several smaller walls during a time when China was broken up into multiple dynasties. The first uniting emperor of China(Qin, 200B.C.) ordered that some of the walls be connected to combat the Huns. However, it wasn't until the Ming dynasty ( circa 14th century, also the Golden Age of China) that large scale construction of the wall began. This would bring the total distance (keep in mind the Wall is actually in many different sections) to almost 5000 miles.
    Now the section I have been the most excited about is the Jinshanling sectio. It is secluded, not touristy, and its last renovation was in the 16th century. It is also two hours outside Beijing, and I wanted to see the sunrise. Myself, along with 9 other people, awoke last Sunday morning at 3am so that we would make it by six. I had all the preperations ready. All the information was correct, and I was excited. After all my very thorough research, I discovered all the to dos and not to dos. Just one thing all the sites and books I read didn't mention: no taxi driver wants to drive two hours north at 4am.
   Over and over we tried, always getting the same shake of the head, and a cloud of CO2 coming from the retreating taxi. Not only was I immensly emberassed by all of this, I was feeling incrediably put-off. I woke everyone at 3am, keeping from them a night that which they would have gone to sleep at that time instead, and here we were unable to get to where I wanted to go. I bit my pride, and told our taxi driver to take us to the most dreaded place of Great Wall hikers: Badaling.
   Badaling is an hour drive (if that) from Beijing, and as such is the spot most attractive to tourists. I was leaning on two facts however, that might make everything work out. 1) It would be 6 in the morning when we arrived there and 2) It was below freezing on a wintery, February Sunday. Not too many people make those two things meet, except for ten very grumpy and sleepy college students.
   We finally arrived, and dawn was slowly approaching, as if the sun too was reluctant to shine upon this tourist hell we were in. The Wall didn't open until 7, so we waited in the taxis, and I negotiated with the drivers about waiting for us. The misty morning upon the mountains was brilliant, yet it was too dark for me to work my settings on my camera, and honestly too cold. Even as I tried our driver came out and kept on calling me crazy, saying "leng le"(cold!). Even as i took pictures, and he looked through my camera, he would give me a toothy smile and say "Crazy!" and walk back to the cab. Whether I was actually crazy for being outside at that time or not, I'm fairly certain this is the only word in English he knew.
   Regardless of my sanity, seven rolled around, I bought everyone coffee, and we walked to the gate.This is the first site that greeted us, other than an empty courtyard.

    We were finally here. The Badaling section has two different directions to go, so we chose the one that rather than having 5 people, had none. It was incredibly steep, and winding its way alongside the mountain. I had hopes of walking it to the top of the mountain range in the distance, but only the restored part was allowed, the rest would be tresspassing; which my rebellious nature took as an invitation and I hoped the wall and hiked with Coby, my Canadian friend, for a bit before returning to the others. We walked back to the center, by this time, quite a crowd was gathered on the other side. As i gazed at this part of the wall, I realized that the crowd ended at a certain point, but a trickle of people continued on, and even fewer people beyond that. My eyes finally found the blocking point, where only one person sat, and only a few were walking torward.
     Five of us endeavored that hike, the others going to eat. It was a painstaking walk, many times literally climbing up stairs. At long last, after five miles of hiking, we arrived at the very end, and turning around I saw all that we had done.

It was a great day, despite the complications and problems that arose. At the end of it, as the five of us stood, panting and looking out over this monument and testament to what humans will do, I smiled. It was vain of me to have this thought, and untrue perhaps, in a logical perspective. But for the first time since I had arrived, I finally realized, I was here. I was in China.