The Great Wall experience in Beijing

Here is my Journey in the Footwear Industry and the lessons I learned along the way #250

Blog #249 I talked about when we meet up with Bing before we take some R&R. In this blog I want to talk about the Great Wall experience in Beijing.

Charles and I decided to experience China like some others did when they came out. We were always focused on work so much we missed out on some of the cool things China had to offer. It was a given we would start with the Great Wall and then the Forbidden Palace.

This time of year, a jacket was necessary, so I didn’t bring one for the trip. The person at the hotel desk suggested one because he said it got quite cold at the top of the wall. They gave me an extra the security guards wore but it was like wearing something 5 times too small. I decided to go to a mall before we headed out. Same thing my size was not to be found. I did find a long sleeve active shirt that would be better than nothing. The size was a 4XL which was still a little small but good enough, just in case.

Along the trip our driver got into an accident. All my years of traveling in China I’ve never been in an accident. I’ve seen people drive on the wrong side of the road too! One guy even told me it was faster lol. The two drivers talked for about 30 minutes back and forth and then finally got back in their cars. I asked the driver what was going on and he said it was better if drivers negotiated a fair price on the repair instead of going through government red tape.

The weather was actually hot when we got there and as we hiked up the wall it was getting increasingly hotter. My long sleeve was soon peeled off and put in my backpack and I ended up just wearing a tank top. Along the way up there was an older guy dressed up like an Ancient Chinese warrior and asked for a few bucks to take a picture with him. We took a few pictures and continued our journey up. Linda and I took a few kissing pictures on the wall once we got there so Charles wanted a picture of him “smoking”on the wall. It was a pretty strenuous hike and we were all a little sweaty once we made it to the top.

Once up there it was amazing. The view was spectacular. I decided to call my dad from the top. He thought…