Sleeping on the Great Wall.

When I heard about a chance to sleep atop a world wonder, I decided right then and there to take it. The Great Wall of China would be World Wonder #4 out of 7 for me, so going to some overcrowded and restored tourist destination seemed like the cheap way out. I wanted to spend more time on the wall, so camping overnight seemed the ideal option. A shuttle picked us up outside a metro stop rather far away from our hostel and we were on our way to the wall. There were 6 teachers from my school in Nanjing, and a lovely Brit named Kelly joined us, as well as a well traveled American Meghan, and 16 year old Paul, from Germany who was making his first international trip to China to visit his cousin in Beijing. Despite the forecast for rain later this evening, it was an ideal set up for a night up on the Great Wall of China.

The bustling city of Beijing quickly melted into emerald green covered hills, pocketed with villages bearing signs that advertised motor bike repair and donkey meat catering. Empty school yards blurred past as our shuttle moved further into the China that would be familiar to those who saw it thousands of years ago. A couple of hours passed, and we arrived at a quaint farmer's home; white linens dried on a clothes line over a square garden which supplied part of our delicious meal. Spicy eggplant swimming in a dark sauce, some sort of tempura fried anise, ridged and rectangle noodles dubbed as "bandaid noodles', my favorite standby potato slaw also made an appearance, as did Chinese melon and eggs. All of this, was of course, served with steaming bowls of rice. We also played a dangerous game of Pepper Roulette with the pile of wok fried peppers; some where hot, while others were sweet. It helped us all get to know each other just a bit better; it also has been officially dubbed the best meal I've had in China thus far.

Life tip: Take pictures from far away so you can't see the sweat. 

Now (very) well fed, we drove 5 minute's time to a valley where you could see the wall snaking behind telephone poles. To "help with our digestion" as Sonia our guide let us know, we first started by seeing a section of the wall that had split in the middle of the ravine; you could see the crumbling stones on either side of you when you walked through it. After our digestion walk, it was time to pack up enormous backpacking backpacks with tents, mats, sleeping bags, and tonight's meal and start our steep incline to the wall. Trying not to tip over with the weight of my bag while trying to breath up an incredibly steep hike up was no small feat. I kept taking photos in an attempt to sneak in a breather without falling behind too far.

The view from my bedroom window. 

Eventually, we all made it to what would be home for the night; one of the few watchtowers with a roof still intact which would provide cover for the night. Sonia had us drop off our bags and sit for a brief history lesson before we snagged snacks and cameras and got to exploring the Great Wall of China. We camped at Wangquanyu; a section completely unrestored, meaning exploring involved climbing through brambles on loose rubble, clamoring into watchtowers missing stairs, peeking out of stone winds, obsessed with the goal of seeing what scene lay ahead once we got to that ridge, or the curve after that, or just on more watchtower ahead of us. Perhaps it worked out well that a few hours into our adventures, gray clouds shrouded the watchtower we were sleeping in and we all felt a few raindrops. In a flash, thunder was crashing around us all, and I made a haphazard dash down to our watchtower, getting completely soaked by both the rain and the sopping leaves I was pushing away from my face.

Home sweet home!

An impromptu clotheslines was made out of a shoelace, wooden pegs made from cramming sticks in between the mortar in the walls were also used to help dry soaking clothes. The night felt more friendly after changing into dry clothes and setting up 5 tents into a narrow walkway. We played cards (and Swedish twister to warm up) before chowing down on noodles, rice, and marinated tofu for dinner while swapping ghost stories. The sunset distracted us from a particularly icy tale, so we dropped everything to run atop our watchtower to see the sun melt into the still stormy skies. It was a gorgeous site....until a frigid gust of wind drove us back into warm tents. We chatted idly, brushed our teeth outside watch towers, laughing as globs of mint foam fell and splatter on an ancient marvel before snuggling up in tents for bed.

Quite the view. 

It's never been easier to get up at 4:30 AM to watch the sunrise. I heard some rustling which woke me up initially, and I jumped out of bed (okay, that's a generous term. i was sleeping on a one inch inflatable pad on stone), thinking I had missed the sunrise based on how light it was already. Turns out, it takes about an hour for the sun to actually rise, giving us all plenty of time to climb on top our tower and slowly wait for the rays to hit our faces. To the west, the sun was already bathing the snaking stones in a warm glow, but we waited for our eastern hill to alight before packing up the tents. Eventually, the sun poked up above the ridge and it was time to zip up tents, squash the air out of pillows and mattresses and stuff it all into our packs. I took a minute to send another few foaming balls of spit over the wall as I brushed my teeth, then a more serious reflective moment trying to soak in one last view of The Great Wall of China.

Thankfully, we breakfasted at the same farmer's home and had a meal to rival our lunch; a corn version of a cream of wheat type soup, scrambled eggs and scallions, and these beyond delicious round, pancake type dumplings filled with egg and scallions. I wish I had gotten the name but I was too concerned with snatching up any extras to preoccupy myself with learning. Convinced my legs will be sore from the steep climb up and down, I packed away my bag in the back of the shuttle and snoozed all the way through the little villages until they turned into steal sky scrapers and the honking of traffic woke me up. All too soon, my time on the wall was over and it was off to Beijing's next adventure: Scorpions.