Butt-scooting Down the Great Wall of China

You definitely read that correctly. You wouldn’t believe how steep some parts of the Wall are. Going up is fine, exhausting, but fine. For someone who is very accident prone, especially on stairs, it was most certainly not fine. So, making some locals laugh, I sat down and but scooted. I knew in the moment, that if I ever wrote a memoir on my life, it would have to be called “Butt-Scooting Down the Great Wall of China.” Basically, I’ve set myself up for success, if I were to ever write a memoir. 

The Great Wall of China was old and kinda worn looking. The group decided we would walk up this specific part of it; it was only like 3 or 4 sections. We decided we would do it, we would make it all the way to the top and back of this section. If any of you are looking for a good exercise, the Wall is an amazing one. By the time we made it to the top, we were all out of breath and our leg muscles were burning. Some of my friends took funny videos while we were walking and so very out of breath.

-a picture i took of my friends as we were heading back down the stairs-

Back to the wonky construction of the Wall, some steps were huge, like at my waist (I’m 5’5”), other steps were really long and short. All of them, though, were worn and bumpy. I was worried the entire time about breaking a bone, specifically because this was the beginning of the trip! What was I supposed to do if I broke something? What if it was bad enough for a bone to break through the skin? Would I have to try to navigate the Chinese healthcare system? All of these are questions and fears I’m trying to quell in the back of my head while still keeping my balance on these weird steps. 

Thinking towards the trip to the Wall, I’d seen artsy pictures of the wall and had an experience planned. I already (thought I) knew what it would be like. I was completely wrong. It was steep, very steep, but also some parts weren’t and to get up to it we had a little skii lift moment. I don’t know what else to call it other than a ski lift. On the way down we had a toboggan ride. Overall, really fun and unexpected. It’s crazy to try to explain to someone who wasn’t there, but I figured it would be a nice little walk, I didn’t figure it would be a crazy intense Chinese aerobics class. 

-a picture i took on the way up the ski lift-

I really should’ve written this sooner, but I kept thinking the trip would make more sense soon. At this point though, it still doesn’t make total sense and it’s hard to put into words. 

Some parts of the Wall are deemed unsafe or the people in charge of it (the Chinese government??? Not sure) have decided that those sections would be closed. Some parts of the wall are like rock climbing, on the safe side. I didn’t illegally venture to the unsafe side, that would be stupid. What if the real reason I’m writing this so late is because I was locked up in China this whole time? Dang, you’d never know. 

Anywho, there was a very steep, metal staircase at some point, and the same friend who took that vlog video earlier, fell, she slipped down these steps. These steps were actually more like a ladder, so that’s how I went about climbing these steps. To give you an idea of how steep they were, my feet are like a women’s size 6 1/2, and going forward (not going down it like a ladder), my toes hung off the edges of the steps. These steps were so far under each other and so steep, that my tiny feet couldn’t fit on them, unless I turned backwards. 

I should really start plotting these posts out so they make a little bit more sense, but I’m not rewriting all of that. Maybe if this was a popular blog, but we’re not quite there yet. At this point, I’ve written all of that in one sitting and am going to check with my friends on their stories from the wall, to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Honestly, this is the most informal blog yet, and I don’t even mind.

I checked with my friends and they didn't have any other stories, but they had some pictures and videos of the wall/us climbing the wall. I'll insert those here: