The Great Wall

23rd September

Up early this morning to be driven 3 hours out of town to a less-touristy part of the great wall. Was definitely worth the lack of sleep, as apart from a group of charity walkers and hawkers, we saw few tourists during our 15km hike from Simatai. The wall really is impressive; you've all seen pictures but to appreciate it's magnitude you really do just need to go and walk some of it for yourself. It was a tiring 4 hour undulating trek but luckily an obscure short cut to get back down was spotted - a zip line across a 200m wide lake. I was a bit hesitant at first but eventually agreed to get strapped on and enjoyed the ride down.