L O V E A N D T R A V E L

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A Lifetime Experience

The familiar rows of paper

fans, Chinese dolls, and “I heart

China” t-shirts crowded around us.

Everywhere we travelled the same

merchandise for foreign tourists were

sold.

The hill up was quite steep,

and even before we reached the

entrance, I felt myself gasping for

air, and heard the hitch in everyone’s

breath as we thankfully waited for

our tickets to be bought.

Not more than two minutes

later, our climb began, higher and

higher until we would reach the

Great Wall of China. Energized, we

all quickly started to climb the steps,

not catching our mistake until we

realized the “couple” of stairs we

thought it would be, kept on going to

an ending none of us could even see.

Our pace slowed steadily,

not ever getting faster again. I tried

to wrap myself even more in the thin

sweatshirt I had. Panting noises

filled the air, and our tour guide

stopped over to the side as we all

collapsed on to the hard ancient

steps.

I looked up from the ground,

and I saw the magnificent curve of

Great Wall, as well as 300 more

steps to reach it.

We started again, and I

didn’t even have the energy to look

up from the ground. My eyes stayed

fix on the holey, rough steps and my

feet just kept pushing up from the

floor in every step. Moments later, I

A memorable journey for anyone...

The rows of Chinese handicrafts and tourist merchandise on our way up the Great Wall

of China

The beautiful ceiling of the Summer Palace

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heard the loud trembling

gasps from two or three

people next to me.

I looked up, and my

breath caught immediately.

Eyes gleamed and

heads lifted.

Lips slowly opened

and the whispering began.

We looked around,

and our jaws slowly

dropped the more we

turned.

It was beautiful.

The familiar tune

of my camera sounded

softly; auburn fire blazing

leaves the shapes of hearts

overlapped the

unfathomable view of the

sparkling jade mountains,

almost as if it wasn’t even

real.

The moment I

climbed the Great Wall of

China, surprised and

completely caught off

guard with its

unimaginable beauty, I

knew I would never forget

it. This masterpiece of

nature and human art was

another reason to believe in

God’s capability of

miracles.

I thought back to

my whole adventure here

in China. Out of all the

amazing once-in-a-lifetime

adventures I took, this was

by far the best. It definitely

beat the other Historical

Sights, which most of us

found interesting… but

boring as well. You cannot

expect much enthusiasm

from a group of kids,

hearing about the same

stories of the emperor and

his many wives and

children, visiting every

palace he had; one for the

summer, and one for the

rest of the year.

We walked around

more, and again I was glad

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— Quisque MassaBeautiful mountains on the right of the Great Wall. Fall leaves and trees along the mountains.

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that this was the final tour spot, that

we hadn’t done this beforehand, for

now the beauty was forever

imprinted in my mind with nothing

else to think about. The scenery was

like a clip from a National

Geographic Documentary,

magnifying the unreality even

further.

Trash Cans lined the Wall

periodically, rubbish filled to the

rims, and I wanted to laugh. The

absolutely absurd and sad thought

came across that someone had to

empty these trash cans every day.

What kind of job made you climb

one of the Seven Wonders all the

time? I was overwhelmed with pity

already; I felt myself hope that they

would at least get fair pay.

…

China, or more accurately

Beijing just kept getting better and

better as the days of our trip waned.

Even Xian, a place where I had heard

would be un-luxurious and a mess in

general topped my expectations, and

I actually found that I had liked it

better. Seeing all the cultural artifacts

really opened my eyes about the

other countries.

Most of the sights though all

reflected back to royalty, dynasties,

or palaces. Even the Terracotta

Warriors were built on the whim of a

greedy king who wanted to rule

everything, all the time, as well as in

his afterlife.

The gorgeous leaves and scenery of a park in Xian

A beautiful shaped tree in Xian

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Everywhere I went, the place

was packed. Now it really made

sense why China had such a stable

economy, 109 million tourists every

year was quite a lot of people which

added up to a quite a lot of profit as

well.

…

Exhausted, all of us picked

ourselves of the ground and we

trudged through our hurts and

complaints to the many watch towers

lined up throughout the whole entire

wall.

The towers, stony arch

within “forts” of gray brick led up to

short series of steps, onto flat ragged

area. It was a great place to feel the

cool wind blow through your hair

and make you seem “big” and

literally on top of the world. Even

the Mongolian border

was clearly visible from

where we stood, giving

me a broader

perspective of China.

The high walls

surrounding the forts

were covered in the

etched in names of people all over

the world. Signatures, jokes, and the

many initialed hearts were so

crowded together and close, that

when you looked from quite afar, the

wall just looked as though it was

filled with scratches.

The Forbidden City, one of the 9,999.5 palaces of the emperor and his wives.

The thousands of Terracotta Warriors

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…

The Great Wall of China in

total about 31, 000 miles, but we

could not continue more than about 6

or 7 miles since the wall was cut off

too tourists after a certain point. It

was built with more than a million

people of all classes helping out;

making the process a bit faster, but

also magnifying the selfishness of

the emperor. He was too afraid of

other enemy dynasties to come and

take him down, so he built the

beautiful artifact we have today.

               …

Other tourists and locals that

had come to enjoy the view, stood in

the line of a woman’s small stand as

they waited for a cold drink or

refreshing snack. Surprisingly, many

natives came to see the popular

tourist attraction as well. Even poor

families with little kids, walked

around normally, enjoying the cool

breeze, and having a picnic.

One particular girl really

caught my eyes though. She was

casually sitting down on the floor,

drawing the most amazing picture of

the great wall one could ever hope to

see. I could actually feel the likeness

and greatness of the beautiful

structure just in her art.

Curious, I struck a

conversation with her, and learned

that her name was Jeny ; a graduate

from a high school in Beijing itself,

and now a student at the Art School

of Xian. When I asked her about all

the locals coming and what she really

liked about coming to the mountainside, she patiently answered, “The Great Wall of China is very great, as an art student, I notice all the curves, structures, and small details within the wall that most people miss. To me, these little details

—

One of the arches of a watch tower leading to a longer path and another watch tower.

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are the ones that really set up the story and make the attraction beautiful.”

Even other families that I had talked to said the same thing; a local, living close by to the mountainside of the Great Wall calmly stated, “China is a very cultural place. Every attraction has its own meaning and reason that make us proud, especially the Great Wall.”

The Great Wall is a prestigious and gorgeous

place in all of China. People around the world have heard about it, no matter what the age. It is a national landmark. When most foreigners think of China, they automatically think of the Great Wall as

well. Many historians have researched its uniqueness,

and thousands of websites and documentary make it a big deal to go see, experience, and learn. The walls beauty defines it as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and its idea beyond reality makes it a

truly wonderful and extraordinary place that I

enjoyed to the very full

extent.

A local woman on the Great Wall sitting in the rain.

A family of three poor children and there mother, enjoying the view once again in here home town of Beijing.

The Great Wall along the overlapping mountains