The Great Wall of China

I first encountered the Great Wall of China when I was a kid. I was browsing an encyclopedia in my mom's office late one night when I came across it. I could barely read back then and was only attracted by pictures. I remember bugging all the adults the next day in my mom's office to read to me what was written. 

Traveling to China, in Beijing to be exact would be incomplete without seeing the Great Wall of China. I made sure while planning my trip to China, I would be able to make the most of it and experience the Great Wall. Once we got to Beijing, upon checking in our hotel the first night Qing made arrangements for us to join a day tour to see the Ming Tomb and the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall of China Facts

The Great Wall is not a single continuous wall but a network of small segments built by various dynasties mainly to protect the northern boundary of China.

Even the Great Wall has an Empty Space

Quick number game:

The entire Great Wall with all of its branches, stretches for 8,581.8 km.

6,259.6 km sections of actual wall.

2,232.5 km of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.

359.7 km of trenches

It is only fitting to claim that it is the Longest man-made structure in the world.

Badaling Section of the Great Wall of China

Badaling is the most visited section of the Great Wall since it is closest to Beijing. This is the same section that was open to tourists in 1957 and where President Nixon visited.

A not-so-familiar view from the Great Wall

During the 2,000-year construction period of the Great Wall, it was colloquially called " the longest cemetery on earth" reportedly it cost the lives of over a million people.

The Great Wall of China with hundreds of tourists

Watch Towers were built at a regular interval along the Great Wall

The construction of the Great Wall produced numerous Chinese inventions that greatly affected civilization: the wheelbarrow and the gunpowder to defend the wall.

A signature pose for the Great Wall

At the Great Wall of China

Contrary to popular belief, the Great Wall of China cannot be seen from the moon without aid. This myth was started by an American published magazine and was made famous by Robert Ripley.

Badaling Section is always packed with tourists

Qing among the hundreds of tourists at the Great Wall

Posing with a smile amidst the hundreds of tourists at the Great Wall of China

It was also common to hear that the mortar used to bind the stones was made from human bones or that people were buried within the Great Wall to make it stronger, good to know this is only a myth

Hundreds if not thousands of Tourists at the Great Wall of China

Watchtowers at the Great Wall of China

Experiencing the Great Wall of China is quite overwhelming, when we were kids most things are grand, we used to look at pictures of places and imagine ourselves running freely around that place or  it was just me? Sure, not all of us are fortunate enough to be able to actually experience what they day dreamt of when they were a kid, but I am sure we all have experience a dream come true, childish as it seems who doesn't want their dreams to be reality?

Going down, after conquering the Great Wall of China -  Badaling Section