Walk In Love: Great Wall

My dad and I via text this morning:

Dad: Get on Skype.

Me: No. I can barely move.

Dad: What happened?

Me: The Great Wall happened.

This is no joke. I cannot move at all right now. My entire body is insanely sore from yesterday's trip to the Great Wall. Not completely sure why my arms are also sore. Nevertheless, all this post-day soreness was well worth it! I am grateful though that I am able to breathe again. After sitting on a jerky bus for an hour and a half, we finally arrived to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We were all so excited, "oo-ing and ah-ing" at every tiny thing. Little did we know, the toughest part was about to come. I don't think any of us were expecting that long and steep hike up to the actual wall. We really weren't prepared for all of that...including the cold air. The rapid altitude change was alright for me but I had such a problem breathing because the cold air filled my lungs.

When we finally got to the top, the view was INCREDIBLE. To be honest, it was more than "incredible." There simply aren't any words to describe the view. It was one surreal experience. You can't fully grasp how vast this wall is. It's 5,000 some miles long and we only walked a few miles of it. So crazy to think that!

The wall was awesome and just thinking "wow, this wall is MAN-MADE. People died building this wall that I'm walking along." But, what stood out to me was a few conversations that I had with the locals there. Along the wall there are a few vendors who are selling water, snacks, and beer. (Funny story: they were trying to sell a bottle of water to my friends for 10 kuai. However, when I went up to buy a bottle for a friend they told me the water was only 5 kuai. It helps being Asian!) These vendors were asking me if I was with the Americans and I told them yes, I'm actually an American-born-Chinese. We got to talking and then they told me that in order to get all of their inventory up to the wall, they have to carry it on their backs every day and carry it back down every night. That was kind of a humbling moment for me. Life in China definitely isn't easy. Life ANYWHERE isn't easy. I have taken so many things for granted while these individuals have to carry close to 50 pounds of bottles and food up that trail in order to make a living. My friends think they made have said that to guilt-trip us into buying food and drinks from them. Nevertheless, they still do this for a living even if they don't carry things up that trail. They still have to walk up that steep trail to get to work everyday and then sit in the cold for almost 10-12 hours a day. Talking to them was great. They were all so sweet!