We set off at 7 am this morning to go see the Great Wall at Mutianyu. After having no sleep, either from excitement, or from being woken up by a guy laughing and sleep talking in Spanish (I wish I knew what he was saying as it sounded hilarious!). It took a couple of hours to get there, but we could see it in the distance before we arrived.
It's on top of a massive hill, and to get to it you have to take a ski lift (you could walk but you'd be too knackered from the walk up the hill to be able to actually climb the wall!).
As soon as we set foot on the wall, everyone shut up. It's truly amazing, in fact that's the only word I could say for a while! It goes on for miles and miles, and it's beautiful. I met a lady on the bus, so we walked together. It was really hard, it's all steps, and some steps are tiny, and some steps are the size of my legs! You have to climb them like you're a toddler!
We walked from watchtower 4 to watchtower 1, the end of the restored part of the wall. It's all up and down, and the inclines are really steep.
When we got to watchtower 1, there was a sign that said that you can't go any further but there was a well defined path obviously made by others who don't listen to the rules!
So we walked down there and nearly fell over a massive green and black snake! No idea if it was poisonous or not, but we were on it's territory so we backed away - after taking photos! So then we walked right to the end, where there was an unrestored, dilapidated watchtower and fantastic views where you could see the wall going off in three different directions.
To come back down from the wall we went tobogganing, which would have been more fun if it wasn't for the old Chinese lady in front of me who used her brake the whole way down! Then lunch and back to the hotel for a sleep!
After a nap and cleaning layers and layers of mud and dust off me I decided to treat myself to a massage at a dubious place I spotted on the main strip. It advertised foot massage and full body massages, but it also specialises in pool and beer. I thought I'd try it, the worst that could happen is that I get a crap massage off a dodgy 'lady of the night' but it turned out to be a genuine massage place that just happened to have pool tables! So I paid 15 quid and then was subjected to two hours of been slapped, punched and, at one point, had my bum pounded like it was a set of bongo drums. I have never known pain like it. He picked me up, stretched me, pulled my arms behind my back, punched me in the calf, slapped my thigh and played a bit more bongos. It was the strangest and most painful thing I've ever had done to me! But now I can say I've had a Chinese massage, and won't ever need one again!
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