Camping on the Great Wall of China!

Meeting couchsurfers has huge benefits for travellers. We found out from our amazingly awesome couchsurfer Keith that we could camp on the Great Wall! That sounded amazing....So we got directions of how to get there, and off we went, with a backpack full of camping gear and one full of beer & snacks.

On the unrestored section of the Great Wall.

The queue to the bus was massive, so we pulled the foreigner card and wondered to the front asking if it's the right queue, and a lady grabbed us and shoved us on a bus - no waiting! Sweet! She was so kind. Unfortunatley the bus we  were put on was different to what our mate told us, and we ended up paying way too much for a taxi to get to the Wall. Damn - Y320 (about R300) for a 40min taxi ride. Bummer...

Nothing could get us down, we were at the friggin' Great Wall!! Never in my life did I think I would make it here. There were a ton of tourists, but not nearly as crowded as I expected. We had a beer - Tsingtao - and wondered to the entrance ticket. Funny thing about the beer - Keith, Rob and I all had one the night before, exact same brand. I said, man it's going to my head but Keith said it was so light.  We all looked at our percentage of alcohol: Keith - 3.2%, Rob 4.7%, Chrissie 6.7%....I won! No quality control/consistency there! Plus, there is a Chinese beer, and another Chinese brand that rips it off - only in China do they fake their local beers...

Hiking up with a bag full of ice and beers was worth it. Gunbai!

Up the cable car we went, as it was getting late and we had a 4-5 hour hike ahead of us and it was already 1pm. We rode in the exact same car that Bill Clinton did. Woop woop. Anyways, on top a few cherry blossoms were in bloom. We walked along the wall, and it's massive! It should be called the Big Ass Dinosauric Mega Wall of China! As far as the eye could see there it was, on the peaks and ridges of the mountains. Those poor bastards who had to lug up all those lumps of granite, just to let those goddamn Mongolians break my shitty wall...oh South Park, how you edumacate us.

A long hard walk to get up here.

The restored section of the wall at Mutianyu was great. It was steep as hell and we were exhausted. How the hell are we going to backpack for 8 months if we have half the gear and can't even make it up a massive flight of stairs?! Everyone was struggling, but we had so much stuff with us. We need to rethink our backpacks. On the wall were vendors selling sweeties, water and beer for a ridiulous price. Some tourists paid whatever they asked. We haggled like mofo's - a street vender wouldn't budge so Rob screamed to another vendor and got sweet deals.

Some histroy - the section of the wall we went to was called Mutianyu and was built under the Emporer Zhu Yuanzhang during the early Ming Dynasty (ca. 1368). This section is unique because it has several watch towers and passes on both sides of the wall. This made it possible for us to get on and off the wall as we pleased. This section is built on a 1000m high ridge, and goes along the ridge 'like a flying dragon' - accurately described!

After our beer break with some almonds and a boiled egg we felt ready to take on the world. Our hiking legs kicked in and it was all alot easier to do. The beginning was tough, but it just got easier after that. The restored section of the wall ended abruptly, and 2 pillars with red flags and some Chinese writing on a sign marked it's end. We just kept walking and the wall went from lovely even cobble stones to quite rundown rubble with trees growing all over it - so much more beautiful and authentic!

Everything the light touches, is our kingdom...

The unrestored section was really amazing. Almost no tourists and we really felt like we were on the wall now. We hiked for about 3 more hours, bumping into groups as we went along. One group of Chinese all had 2-way radios...we thought they were patrol or something and tried to look casual with our obvious massive bags! They turned out to be a tour group - with 2-way radios. Oh Asia, if the apocolypse happens you'll be so screwed if you can't orient yourself on a one-directional MASSIVE wall!

Houston, we have a problem.

Another beer break and a group of Chinese students were so interested in us. We chatted with them and were really amazed at their English! The one girl immediately said she is a minority in China - from Korean heritage (DPRK). She was interesting. We busted out some Korean and made her happy. It was a beautiful day and nice to see the locals appreciating the Wall too.

Say Kimchi!

We had about 1.5 hours of sunlight left, and tried to find a nice even spot on the wall to camp. It all looked uneven and reall uncomfortable (we don't have mats, only sleeping bags). We kept walking and arrived at the most beautiful section. Here the mountains narrowed into steep cliffs on either side, unlike the rolling hills we'd seen previously. Exposed rock made the sheer cliffs more remarkable. At a few sections we had about 30cm to walk on, but only for a few steps. It was really amazing - not suggested for those of fear of hights or balance issues! A dodgy vender guy wanted to charge us Y5 to use his crappy ladder. We just jumped down & climbed back up the 1-2m break in the wall. Opportunists are great but bloody annoying at times.

The iconic scene of the Great Wall, with sheer cliffs on either side.

The steep sections has less comfotable-looking spots to sleep on, we went back and found a lovely flattish area off the Wall in the forest where our tent could be a little hidden (it's bright orange though!!!). We cleared a little scection and had a celebratory sundowner. Watching the sunset on the Wall, just Rob and myself was just spectacular! We saw francolin-like birds and could hear the wildlife. Amazing...

Great sundowner spot.

After pitching the tent and preparing the braai, we just relaxed while the sun was disappearing. Rob has a magnesium lighter, and wanted to bust a Ray Mears and light the fire. Within 2 strikes he lit the fire! Wow - good on you Robbie! The area is so dry and some of the logs felt like polystyrene - so incredibly dry. We were very careful with embers and made sure the fire didn't get too big. The warmth was great and we had a few more cold ones to end off a great day.

The cut scene from the Blair witch project.

Dinner was ramen (noddles) mixed with spam and tomatoes. Yummy! Night time was horrendous! My 'super ice breaker' sleeping bag is a fraud and I froze my nuts off! The area was super Blair-witch creepy, as it was just entering spring and all trees were bare. An owl was hooting close by, but it was really amazing to hear birds again! I loved it, wasn't scared at all - just flipping cold. Rob was snug in his brand new -20 degrees sleeping bag and I tried to fit into it, but I couldn't :(

Wish it was that warm in our tent!

So we had a pretty bad night with Rob trying to keep me warm. Eventually he crawled into my sleeping bag (it's bigger) and we tried to wrap his around us. We knew that the most cold comes from the ground, but damn, didn't think my sleeping bag was that kak! Morning broke and the sunlight instantly made us warm. After a quick nap we packed up and made the place look exactly as we arrived. The cherry blossoms opened overnight, stunning.

On the way back, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, beautiful.

The hike back was 1000 times easier. Our hiking legs were going strong and my bag was much lighter - it was empty now! We casually strolled back, watching all the people huffing and puffing up the mega stairs of the restored section of the wall. It was so nice to lie on the wall chilling watching their red and poofy faces desparatley trying to motivate themselves to just walk for 5...more...steps...

Watching the exhausted folks walk past, chilling on the Wall.

We walked past where we entered about an hour further to where there was a TABOGGEN! I didn't even know that word until China - it's like a bobsled, so you ride on a skateboard like thingy down the mountain from the Great Wall. Sweetness! Robbie was in front of me and we went mega fast. But then had to stop abruptly because theses slow idiots infront didn't know how to use it. It's not rocket science - push forward to go forward, back to break. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Anyways we waiting until they crept down the hill and then let loose....yeeeehhhha! So much fun! An easy taxi and bus ride back to Beijing where we met Keith and Gen for a fantastic meal and last night in China.

Who needs to hike when you can taboggen!