the Great Wall of China

Climbing the Great Wall was our favorite and most memorable thing we did in China. We ranked our list of things we wanted to do, and did the most important on Day 1, just in case Trent got sick again, like in Thailand where he got sick on day 2 and we ended up cancelling most of the trip. He gets sick very easily. So Day 1 was the Great Wall and an acrobat show. (pictures of that coming soon)

The good news was that Trent didn't get sick on this trip! the bad news, was we did end up cutting our trip short by a few days b/c I screwed up our train tickets. but that's another story. And just for the record, one more time, Ryan, I am REALLY, really sorry about that!!!!

okay, moving on. the Great Wall. 5,500 miles from East to West China. The biggest symbol of the chinese nation. The thing you need to know is that China is hot in June. like really hot. so most of these pictures are us all sweaty and squinting in the sunlight trying to pose for pictures. But it must be documented! so here we go.

we chose to hike the Mutianyu section, because it's known for being less crowded than some of the other sections and has an alpine slide. which we didn't end up doing because there was a little bathroom emergency! keeps it exciting. more on that later.

this is me, just starting out. you take a cable car up to the base. then walk up a hill of cute little souvenir/vendors and most importantly, the last clean bathroom. (that is important information you'll need to know for later) then you officially enter the wall.

I hadn't realized how much walking we would be doing that day. I had thought we'd walk a little, take pictures and be done. but the kids were really into it. they wanted to walk forever and see how far we could go. so that's what we did. we hiked for hours. It was really beautiful how it winds up and down the mountains like a gigantic snake or dragon.

Jake, looking down off the side

These stairs were so steep, we were dying!! shortly after getting to the top, Emily, Jake and I had had enough. We found a shady spot to sit and wait while Ryan and Trent kept going.

They actually hiked past a sign that said, danger, don't go beyond this point. I have no idea why...but Trent thought it was cool. Poor kid, was so hot that day, he's sweating a ton!!

they made it to some ruins where the wall hadn't been renovated. Then decided to turn around.

fun with the camera. turning the kids into giants.

One thing to recommend for anyone hiking the Great Wall is to bring a ton of water! We each brought 1 bottle from the hotel and it definitely wasn't enough. Our tour guide warned us not to buy any drinks or even bottled water from venders on the wall b/c it usually wasn't safe, clean water. She said the only place with clean water was the official great wall souvenir shop at the bottom of the hill just as you got off the cable cars. We weren't sure if that was true, or if maybe she had a deal with that particular souvenir shop. but we weren't going to test it. so we didn't buy any drinks up on the wall. which was hard for the kids to be thirsty and have to walk by people selling water bottles.

We were just starting to head back to find the alpine slides to slide down instead of taking the cable car back down, when Jake said he had to go to the bathroom. Awesome, I thought. how many little boys can say they've peed off the great wall before? Then he said it was number 2. Well that changes everything. we were about 20 minutes from the bathrooms at the main gate. the alpine slide was another 20-30 minutes past that. so we walked super fast to the bathrooms. I walked in with Jake, and then immediately walked right back out. imagine your worst bathroom nightmare.

me: I'm not taking him in there. He's your son. You take him.

Ryan: how bad can it be. let's go Jake. 15 seconds later.... we're going to have to find another bathroom. I'm not taking him either.

at that point we had to make a decision. the only other bathrooms, clean bathrooms, were down the souvenir hill, outside the great wall entrance. if you leave, you can't get back in. which meant no alpine slide. so we opted for the clean bathroom/no alpine slide route. which was fine.

Jake and I ran down the souvenir hill to the bathroom as I yelled to Ryan, "buy us some Great Wall t-shirts!" he returned with multiple bags full of stuff. "what is all this?" I asked. "But it's all so cheap and hard to say no," he replied. oh brother....

There was also a camel photo op at the base so the boys thought this was fun.

and then we meandered through the vendors and street food. Our tour guide suggested we try the Chinese pancakes, which was like a crepe stuffed with meat. They were good, but what the kids (okay, really, it was me) were really craving was Subway. Whoever thought to put that Subway at the base of the great wall, Mugianyu section, bless you!!!