The Great Wall of China

你好！I've made it to China! I just spent five days in Beijing and have been in Chengdu now for two days. I figured while I have some downtime tonight, I'd try to share some photos from the Great Wall.

We visited the Juyongguan section of the wall which had foliage all around that made it especially beautiful to explore (in my opinion)."Juyongguan Great Wall is one of the three most famous passes along the Great Wall of China, together with Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan. 37 miles (60 km) from downtown Beijing, Juyong Pass was a solid stronghold encircling a valley, which was the northern direct access to Beijing in ancient times." (source)

The stairs leading up the wall were NO joke! Some were spaced so far apart, I had to use the handrail to hoist myself up on to the next step.

This sign reads, "He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man." I'm happy to say I'm finally a true man now!

I did not make any phone calls during the thunder, I did not litter at random, but I did appreciate the scenery while walking. How could you not?!

This is what the view looked like early on. We got rained on pretty hard for about 15 minutes, and then it started to clear up a bit. Honestly, I was just happy the sun wasn't out. The sun was not my friend in Beijing. I'm a Seattle vampire now. Sun = bad!

Morgan and Erica are my China besties. We clicked right away. We're all vegetarians from the midwest! We're living together in an apartment here in Chengdu. I'm so happy China brought us together. <3 (Also, bless that woman in our photo who decided to bring her giant iPad to the Great Wall.)

Although we didn't have as much time as I would have liked at the Great Wall, I'm obviously still so grateful that I was able to see it. I teared up as we were getting closer and closer to it and felt shaky with excitement as we were climbing up and down the stairs. What an incredible place! China has been amazing thus far. Can't wait for more adventures! xo