Great wall!

I can now place a checkmark next to one of the major goals of my life, which was to hike the Great Wall of China.

I did it today. From Jinshaling to Simatai. It was a 3.5 hour bus ride out of central Beijing to the start point. Because it's a long ride, it's very untouristy, which I loved.

The sky was blue, with a little bit of smog again.

I went with a small tour group of about 15 people. I think there were only 2 total groups. It cost about $40 per person, not including food.

Every 5 minutes, I'd turn around to check out the view and it would keep getting better and better because we were going uphill, so I took a lot of pictures. The view looked like just how I remember from social studies back in elementary school. I was filled with awe that I'm actually at the wall actually looking at it in person.

The wall was pretty eroded and I was a little worried that it could be gone in 50 years because of tourists walking on it.

The hike was about 7km long. It wasn't very hard actually although some people told me it was going to be tough so I was prepared mentally for something more challenging. My climb up daechungbong when I was in Korea was about twice as hard.