Dalton Stickler - 5/25

The Great Wall & Tiananmen Square: Best Day in Beijing

Early morning bus ride, humid and rainy weather, but this ended up being my favorite day of the entire China leg of the trip, and it wasn't really close.

First stop was the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We took a gondola up since the weather wasn't great, and I remember just looking out and seeing the wall start to appear through the fog and being like, "Wow". There's really no way to hype it up enough, seeing it in person just hits different. Definitely been on my bucket list for a long time, and it did not disappoint at all.

Once we got up there, Viktor, Max, Jack, and I immediately spotted how steep the climb was to get up to Towers 21 through 23 and looked at each other like we had to do it. It was brutally humid and felt like a full workout, but getting to the top was completely worth it. The views were unreal, the wall disappearing into the misty mountains in both directions. It was one of those moments where you stop and just take it in for a second. A few other group members made it up there as well, which was cool to see. 

Once we made our way back down, there were vendors everywhere at the bottom. The big lesson learned there was that whatever price they give you first, that's not the real price. Most of us were bargaining them down 40, 50 percent or more in some cases, which was honestly one of the more entertaining parts of the day.

We stopped at a buffet on the way back for lunch, which was a solid reset after spending all morning hiking stairs in the heat. Then it was off to Tiananmen Square, which had been pushed from its original scheduled day because Vladimir Putin was there. When we arrived this time, part of the square was still closed off because the President of Pakistan was visiting that day. We eventually found our way in through one of the most thorough security checks I've ever been through in my life.

Once we were inside, things got interesting pretty fast. Officers directed our whole group down a staircase underground and had us wait there for a few minutes with no real explanation. When we came back up, there was a massive boom that startled pretty much everyone. Then it happened again. And again, about 15 more times total, until we realized it was a cannon salute being fired across the way, a traditional ceremonial honor for the visiting head of state. Once we figured that out, it was cool, but those first few seconds were something else. After that, we crossed over to the iconic Mao portrait for photos, which felt like another one of those "I can't believe I'm actually here" moments.

To close out the night, a small group of us headed over to Wangfujing Street, one of the most famous shopping areas in Beijing. We walked around, did some shopping, grabbed dinner, and finished it off with gelato. Perfect ending to a perfect day, and a great way to wrap up China.