The Great One

The next day, Allyssa and I awoke at 4am to make our way to the bus station to make our way to the Great Wall. At the suggestion of a friend, we planned to take the earliest bus at 6am, thus necessitating the early wake-up time. We arrived at about 5:45 to the bus station, only to learn that the ticket window didn't open until 6:30. So, at 6:30 we purchased our tickets to go to the Simatai section of the wall, though the bus didn't depart until 8am (many tourist buses in Beijing depart not at a set time, but rather when all of the seats have been sold). After a four-hour ride, we arrived at the magnificent Great Wall. We chose this section because of its reputation as more of a challenge to hike, and because it is known to have fewer tourists, and luckily, both turned out to be true. We hiked a few kilometres along the wall until we were allowed to go no further, and then turned around and hiked back. Along the way I picked up my genuine "I Climbed the Great Wall" T-shirt for only 20 kuai, though I overheard some other Americans, who didn't speak any Chinese, paying 100 kuai for the same shirt. This being my first opportunity to really bargain for the best price, I think I did pretty well.