Emersonians Arrive at the Great Wall

By Seth Adam
July 16, 2008

Jul 12 2008 - VID00001.mov


What's more Chinese than that Great Wall of theirs?  On Saturday we made the trek north of Beijing to the Great Wall. The anticipation was exhilarating. My first glimpse of the Wall was somewhat like my first time seeing Times Square: I saw it in pictures, but was never quite sure it actually existed. The Wall, you'll be glad to know, does, in fact, exist.

As romantic as that may sound, however, the Wall comes with its down sides. Apparently, we had arrived the same day and time as the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon. Very cool, right? Well, not so much. An entire section of the Wall was closed for his personal tour, while us commoners had to wait in a very long and pushy line until Senor Presidente decided he'd seen enough for the day.

After physically fighting our way to the base of the wall, we finally mounted its topside and made our way up. And I thought Beacon Hill was quite a climb! The scenery was magnificent, no doubt, but Chinese air isn't exactly easy to breathe, let alone while scaling a mountain of ancient brick. Drenched in sweat, I arrived at one of the wall's many peaks. I was finally in China. The Great Wall really owns up to its name. What they don't tell you, however, is that it's a bitch to climb. All in all, I'd say it's still pretty great, though my athleticism is anything but.