China
A couple hours outside of Beijing leads to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. This area is completely rebuilt and full of tourists. A few more minutes drive and we arrived at a section of the wall where part has been restored and the remainder sits in ruin. While there are other sections of the Wall that are a little more authentic, this area gave us a full view of what the wall looked like when it was built as well as how it looks after centuries of weather and invasions. On top of that, we had the whole wall to ourselves.
As you can see from our pictures Beijing residents love smog. Eastern medicine states that the smog is good for your lungs, so they do all they can to promote this philosophy. Regardless of the hazy atmosphere we thoroughly enjoyed our day at the Great Wall. The first couple of hills that the Wall climbs over are completely rebuilt. While it is interesting to see in its restored condition Magan and I longed to see a more authentic section.
Climbing along the Wall as it rolls over the hills we soon reached a part of the wall that is partially restored just to help with walking. It wasn’t long after this that we reached a part of the wall where it was almost completely dilapidated and over-grown. This was by far the best portion of the wall and made for a great day hike.
Damn Mongolians:
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