Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: Great walk on the Great wall at Jinshanling

This morning we had the luxury of leaving late – as in 9 am. And furthermore we also had the luxury of a short drive. Only about 1½ hours to the village of Jinshanling where we are going to stay right next to the wall.

Before heading out on our wall-walk we had lunch and at 1 in the afternoon we walked to the entrance of the national park and headed for the cable car – which was not running today. What a disappointment for Mikkel.

We spent 20 minutes walking to the actual wall and what a sight. In the heat of the afternoon there was a lot of haze but you could clearly see the wall winding up and down the mountains as far as the eye could see. We decided to head east and follow the wall for a few kilometres. Some sections were very steep, many stairs to climb up and down, some sections were relatively flat and walking there allowed you to enjoy the scenery. As we walked further we could see the wall continuing endlessly in the distance, more towers appearing in the mist.

It was a really warm afternoon so every time we came to a watch tower it was pleasant to enjoy the views, the shade and the breeze. As we progressed the sections of the wall became less and less renovated, sections were missing, access to the watch towers difficult and trees and bushes growing on the wall. And still the wall seemed to continue forever.

We finally stopped and enjoyed the view before one of the park rangers told us to head back towards the exit. On our way we had a few photo shoots with some Chinese hikers. Always nice to have fun with them and do a few photos. Before heading back to our hotel we had a well deserved cold beer on the wall – and then some more photos. Some more people joining and all of a sudden we had 30 people waving at the camera together with us. More people came running to join the pictures all the time. This country is so good.

Before we managed to leave the wall another group approached us asking if we would help them with a team building exercise. First do some arm wrestling and then sing a song in Chinese. Well actually the girl said "first I break your wrist" but luckly it was only arm wrestling. We agreed on the condition that they would do silly dance for Nico and us. More fun and laughter.

We headed back to the hotel for a well deserved cold beer, a shower and some food for dinner. The wall is amazing, beautilfu and impressive at the same time.