What I learned while on Holiday: Beijing (The Great Wall)

Synopsis of my climb up the Great Wall of China:



Step 1 -- "Woo! Here we go! We'll do all 2,500 steps to the top and prove that we can climb this wall!"

Step 50 -- "Wow. I never thought the Great Wall was so steep..."

Step 100 -- "Woo. I'm on the Great Wall."

Step 200 -- "I'm going to make it to the top, even though my legs are wobbly, knees are aching and my feet are sore as hell."

Step 300 -- "Fuck this noise. I'm done."

Jeff had wised up way before Mom and I did. One the way up the wall, we were giving each other pep talks. On the way down, the conversation between Mom and I was more like the following:

Mom: "Watch our for that step..."
Me: "I know Mom."
Mom: "Go down sideways, this stair is steep."
Me: "I Know. Mom."
Mom: "Be careful! Don't step down like that!"
Me: "I KNOW MOM!"

And so on and so forth. I think I'm the only person who fought with her mother the entire way down the Great Wall of China.

That was also the day I saw another person -- this time a small child -- take a piss on a historic monument. It was a small child wearing pants that leave the crotch are not stitched together -- they use them in China for toilet paper training. Anyways, I saw this cute child and suddenly I heard the sound of water falling on the stairs. Then I saw the source of the sound. I suppose it's better than the mother holding the kid over the wall, like Michael Jackson, but admittedly it made me wonder what we were sitting on.

The wall is beautiful though. It's like a dragon, laying still on the mountains:



And the weather was absolutely perfect. Blue skies and cool weather. Good for attacking the walls...



Too bad it's so damn steep.