There are several access spots for the Great Wall of China. We avoided the closest one which is clogged with tour buses and the most aggressive shopkeepers this side of Istanbul. Instead, our
choice was Mutianyu, the access with the steepest sections and therefore fewest dabblers; this stretch is for true hikers. The Japanese-made cable car gave a good introduction to the angles involved as it went up to the 2,000 metre start point. Letters made from huge rocks spell out Chairman Mao Zedong like the "Hollywood" sign in Los Angeles.
Being on the Wall is a spellbinding pinch-me-I'm-really-here experience because you've seen it so often in pictures but the real thing is better. The Wall was built in separate sections by nobles hoping to avoid invasion. Only over centuries were the sections joined together into one long roller coaster stretching 3,000 miles. Having moved a rock or two myself, it is absolutely incredible to imagine the labour and sheer engineering genius on display. You can read up on the millions of cubic feet of earth moved, or the hundreds of thousands of slaves and prisoners who built it. But it's stunning, impressive, even fun to trek. Wow wow wow.
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