The Great Wall

Of course, you can't go to Beijing and not visit the Great Wall of China!

There are a few sites of the wall, in varying conditions and usually the best thing to do is to choose a tour (from your hostel/hotel) and join that. After some humming and hawing we opted for the 4 hour, 10km trek from Jinshanling to Simatai and I'm so happy we did so. It wasn't an easy trek, the first half was especially challenging with very steep parts and really deep steps to climb up to watchtowers! It was a hot day, around 28 degrees but we had beautiful weather. I was sweating absolute buckets!

At the end of the trek you cross a suspension bridge and then take a zip line over a ravine to a boat where you take a short trip to the end.

It was an exhilirating experience and when you're there trekking, it's hard to believe you're actually on THE Great Wall of China!!

Ps. It's the longest human cemetry in the world
Pps. It's a myth that it can be seen from the moon (rubbish)
Ppps. Thanks to Leo, Eric and their Dad from Ireland for some nice chat along the way!