Through a friend, we were able to hire a driver for the first day in Beijing. He spoke fantastic English and gave us a lot of information. He picked us up near our hotel around 8:15. It proved difficult to get out of Beijing at that time in the morning--what a lot of traffic! Instead of taking us to the normal places tourists go to visit the Great Wall, we went to an out of the way section. It was great because there was hardly anyone else there and it saved us quite a chunk of change in entrance fees.
(In other parts it would be wall to wall--pun intended--tourists). I have to admit this climb was difficult for me. To even get to the wall you had to do some hiking. The wall itself was very steep. Steps help, but the incline in some places was quite severe. Even Ana eventually tired out and that takes some doing! This section of the wall has not been all redone, so in some places it would be easy to go over the edge. What an amazing feat this wall is! And I want to say that I am so glad I was not a soldier patrolling it. (Also, AK I know you're in great shape, but running on this wall might not be possible :) Think of it more as hiking!!)
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