Every tour that goes to China HAS to include the Great Wall. My family and I went on a tiring, yet fun, eight day tour in China, going to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other various small cities. The second day was the best day. My brother and I started to race up the slope leading to the first steps up the Wall. Our parents called out to us, "Don't waste your energy!!" but we didn't have a care in the world for that right now. We quickly sidestepped many various people on the way up. There was a diverse amount of people, not just Chinese. I beat my brother to the steps, and looked down.
"These steps are freakin' HUGE...!"
No wonder only soldiers of the past Chinese dynasties could ever traverse this wall. Every step of irregular, unpaved, and REALLY steep. I literally had to hop from one step to the next. After my parents had finally caught up with us, I took a deep breath, held the rails that were added to the Wall, and lifted my foot. I had taken my first step. (Now only hundreds more to go!)
Moving up was a slow process. So many people were at the Wall, I could guess that someone looking from above could see the endless masses of people. Many people had to take breaks midway, and sat right in the middle of the stairs so others could hang on to the side and continue up. I was terrified of letting go of the rails, because I may have fallen onto the person in front of or behind me. My dad assured me that I wasn't going to fall anywhere. I let go, but quickly grabbed on again.
We made it to the first tower. We had to stop and take a break, because my asthma was starting to kick in, but we continued moving as soon as possible, because the tour gave us only two hours to get as far as we possibly could. Mum made a goal to get to the second tower. I really wanted to go farther than that. I wanted to climb the whole way, but we just didn't have the time. We waited for my brother to get up, then continued to slowly go up the wall. Unluckily, we ended up behind an old woman who took about 10 seconds for every step. She was Chinese, so dad joked in English, "Why is she even here?" and hoped that she didn't understand us. Soon, we got annoyed at the speed we were moving at, so we carefully slipped in front of her and moved on.
It seemed like forever, but we made it. We reached our goal. I let out a sigh of relief and chugged a water bottle down. When I was done, dad tapped my shoulder and pointed his finger, and I looked at the direction he pointed me to. I saw such a beautiful sight that took my breath away from me.
The Wall was so high up, I could everything. The jungle of trees below, mountains and hillsides nearby. Even more people were trying to climb the Wall now, and I was glad we got here earlier. I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of the landscape. It was the best thing I've ever seen.
Going down was even harder than going up. Constantly looking down and seeing the height we were at terrified me. I carefully moved from step to step as quick as I could. On the way back, we met the other people who were on the tour, who were still trying to get up. I felt proud because we were the first ones to reach the top.
"Hey Lily, let's race again!" my brother yelled when we reached the slope. We started dashing, even though we were breathing so hard we would've fallen anytime. Once we gained momentum, we couldn't stop. I even tried to, but I would've landed on my face if I did. At the bottom, I took a heavy breath and collapsed onto the ground. My brother barely followed behind me. Our parents walked behind us and smiled at our rare enthusiasm.
I took so many pictures on that trip, and I'll never forget the amazing sight and fun I had while I was there.
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