Like a snake undulating through the mountains

Last week we spent three days (and one morning) in Beijing and in the morning of the first day we went straight to the main attraction: the Great Wall! The Wall at Mutianyu is less crowded than the famous Badaling section and there's a cable car to take us to the top. For 75 minutes we walked, we climbed and we stared in awe at the amazing vistas. The funny thing is that we ended up not walking that much; at least not as much as we felt we had. What happens is that the Great Wall is a good 2000 km or so above sea level, and very steep in certain parts. Plus, it was about 11am and really, really hot, which might explain why we felt so exhausted so fast. As much as we'd like to keep going and enjoy a longer time at such an amazing monument, the Wall beat us in a little over an hour. But what a sensation to simply stand on it!