I climbed the Great Wall

I climbed the Great Wall today. I had to wake up at 6:45 this morning, ok it was 6:55 when I decided to get out of bed. Then I had to ride the bus for about 4 hours. There are closer spots to climb the wall but they are much more touristed I think.

I was on the wall for about 4 hours. I trekked over 10km on the wall and some parts were really steep with tall stairs that weren't very deep. It was quite hard at some points but I made it through and by the time we reached the end it was pretty touristy. We could've taken a zipline to get back on the bus.

I met an Australian girl who speaks a useless Chinese dialect. She said most people in Beijing haven't even heard of it. She was quite nice though. I can't imagine going all that way alone, especially for the whole day. She was able to speak some Mandarin, I guess, and had just spent 6 weeks in Mongolia.

I had my own personal guide for a time. She was Mongolian and just kind of followed me for quite a ways. I really don't know how to spell that even though I say it a fair bit. She would tell me stuff in Chinese and I would just nod along. The only thing I really understood was when she pointed to one side and said Mongolia and then pointed to the other and would either say Beijing or China. I don't think I actually saw Mongolia though. Anyways, after quite a bit of time had passed, she pulled out some t-shirts for me to buy. I didn't want a crappy t-shirt. I politely declined to buy them. She started to get a bit upset and pushed them at me saying "Buy! Buy!" I guess in all my nodding, I'd agreed to buy something from her. Avena, the Aussie, explained that I didn't understand anything she had said but I ended up buying some postcards. I paid more than I should've for China. I really need to get better at haggling. She had been by my side for an hour probably and even took my garbage from me. I can't imagine walking along the Great Wall everyday just trying to sell things to tourists. Oh, she would also tell me to be careful and to go slow. I understood that part. I still don't know at what point I agreed to buy something from her since she didn't even show me anything she was going to sell.

I also met some guys who had just been to North Korea. They were more keen on talking to Avena so I didn't say much to them. I should've asked them about North Korean kimchi and soju. It's funny how in North Korea reunification is a much bigger issue than it was in Daegu. I don't remember anyone ever bringing the subject up except me and only once because the subject was changed so quickly.

Anyways, that was all I did today since the hike was exhausting, 4 hours, and the bus rides were long 4 hours each way. I'm doing some laundry now and it's probably done by now. I also don't know how I'll be getting back to Korea now since the trans-siberian appeals to me less and less. Yeah, no idea since the more I think about the more options seem to pop into my head and just make me more undecided. Decision-making is not my forte, as some of you know more than others.