Great Wall of China Trek – I’VE MADE IT!

YES!!! After all that months wondering how it would be like… I have finally been able to say that “I’ve made it!!!”

For me it was an intense trip, I arrived in Beijing at noon on the 17th of October and went straight to see the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City… Yes the whole team looked so knackered after a 10 hour flight, serious jet-lag, and 3-4 hours of visiting Beijing.

And on the 18th, we had to wake up so early as we needed to be transported to the Great Wall… a 3 hour drive that was!

Finally, we got started at Jian Kou!

Day1: From Jian Kou to MuTian Yu (17km)

It was the shortest part of the trip we had to do (only 17km) but it was also the steepest (60 degree).

When I started trekking, I realised that my 15km training on the “flat” London road was nothing!! We always start at the bottom, trekking up to the TOP of the Mountain and then walking back down to have dinner at the village.

This is where we started!!!

Man, I was so not used to this… At first, I really doubted my ability to finish the trek.. as I got tired very quickly after 30′ of trekking…

But then, my “competitive” adrenaline kicked in, I constantly told myself: “You can do it! YOU CAN DO IT!!’… I quickly found my way to the front of the group… and it felt REALLY REALLY GOOD!

THE PACE OF YOUR BREATH WAS SO IMPORTANT!

At first, I felt that my heartbeat could not catch up… and it was so hard to breath…. I tried to breath in deeply and release my breath slowly….. after doing that several times, all my tiredness went away!!! How AMAZING!

The first Watch Tower we reached!

It felt amazing when you reached the TOP!

From the moment I told myself that “YOU WILL MAKE IT”… I pushed myself to keep up, and only let the guide (Alan) be the one in front of me…

Alan said the route we took is not opened for public as it was dangerous… only groups with licensed guides are allowed to use this route… it would make you feel as if you’re a professional trekker haha 🙂

“I will follow him… following him wherever he may go” hahaha

Another good thing of being in the front is that, when you stopped to wait for your fellow trekkers, you have time to take pictures of the scenery without too many people in the pictures…

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET on the Great Wall!!

Yes, we reached MuTian Yu… From here, we started to trek down… We actually had two options, either trekking down for an hour of getting the cable car and went down!

I didn’t go all the way to use the cable car, plus, it wouldn’t make up to 65km… so I decided to trek down with half of the team.

I found it’s really hard to trek in the dark, especially because I didn’t prepare a flash light… My eyes had to pop out to look for the way…. When we reached the village and looked back… we all thought that it was very dangerous and wasn’t particularly the wise choice at all…

Day 2: GuBeiKou to JinShanLing (25km)

On the second day, Alan decided to be at the back to help the group and his brother, Snow be at the front.

We were a big team…

Lunch in one of the Watch Towers!

For me, the second day was the hardest… as the path was rough and narrow… so easy to fall…

At night, I couldn’t sleep as my legs hurt so much… I even found it hard to walk, let alone, trekking up and down the mountain…My “trekmates” said I had to pay for not training properly….

Day 3: SiMaTai to JinShanLing (23km)

It was very foggy and Alan thought it would be dangerous to trek from JinShanLing since the visibility was really bad. We had the coach transferred us early morning to SiMatai and we started trekking from there back to JinShanLing…

YAY!!! That was the end of my trek!!!

I guess it has always been a MENTAL CHALLENGE for me! I trust myself when I said “I WILL MAKE IT”… and didn’t let a single thought of giving up let in…

Yes, CaDao, the girl who has never been to the gym, who has not done any sports made it!!!! It probably isn’t the difficult trek for some people, but for me, it meant a lot….

Thank you so much for all the encouragements from my friends and family…. I couldn’t make it without your support!!!

CaDao