the great wall of china

the great wall was the highlight of our trip.

it may be the cliché tourist stop in china, but a cliché is a cliché for a reason.

i will just say, it exceeded all of our expectations! It probably helped that we went to an incredible section of the wall {the juyong pass} where the views were breathtaking, and we could hike all the way up it! we pulled up and saw all of the gorgeous green mountain ridges with the great wall lining the tops. i didn’t have a sense of how impressive the wall was, how you could see it in every direction going up and down with the mountain ridges, and how steep it was! it is still in great condition, especially for how old it is. 1/3 of china’s population worked on the wall as it was being built, and now i can see how that is possible. it’s hard to believe it spans thousands of miles! it was so hot, but we wanted to climb all the way up, so we made it!

 

climbing and making new friends along the way

little photo shoot at the top of the pass

the hills were breathtaking

i was so happy that there were love locks on the great wall!

we were also asked to take pictures with chinese people so many times on the 

great wall...they are the sweetest! i guess we are too tall, we stick out too much!

on top of all this, it was chase’s 25^th birthday on the day we visited the great wall. what could be a better celebration of the big quarter century? we had already celebrated it at home in california, but i got balloons and we blew them up on top of the wall to celebrate on the actual day! we had a peking duck banquet that night, which was the best food we had in china. it was a great day! now i'm excited to see where we are on my 25th! :) maybe another wonder of the world {hint..hint chase}

i spy the birthday boy!

our long hike was followed by a big lunch, and some refueling..

we loved checking this off our list of things to see in this world..it did not disappoint!

xo