Ok, it's pretty great

Tuesday, we hired a car to head to The Great Wall.

A short one-hour drive we got the to wall-section Jarod planned for us - the Junyonguan Pass.

A. MAZE. ING.

It is one of the restored parts of the Wall and it has a lot of stairs.

FYI - stairs are one of my great fears in life. Going up or down, all I see is the potential for death. I HATE stairs.

I had made this very clear to my travel companions early on, but more on that later.

The first few portions were packed with visitors, clammering to get up.

Once you get past them, the climb is really chill, despite all the stairs.

About an hour later, we were above the smog and could see several other parts of the Wall.

Breathtaking.

And to think this thing was built 2000 yrs ago. How the fuck did all of those poor ancients do the trek up to build it, because the end of this section is at the top of a mountain.

Crazy.

So, we got to the top and enjoyed the view for a while and the boys decided to take the back way down.

Now, of course, because I don't want them thinking I am a wimpe, I followed.

This was possibly the scariest thing I have ever done.

In my entire life. And I have jumped off cliffs, out of planes and climbed mountains.

I am not a fucking wimp. But the ancient Chinese were not good at making stairs a consistent size. Some were really high, others were barely stairs. It made for a descent that required a lot of attention. I got dizzy a couple of times, had to sit down and almost started crying.

I have never been more freaked in my entire life.

I was pissed and told those two idiots so.

Come to think of it, I am still pissed.

Fuckers.

All-in-all though, the Great Wall lived up to its name.

Next time though, I am bringing some hiking boots and checking out an unrestored section.

And not follow two jerks who like to test my emotional stability.

Jerks.