Climbing the Great World of China

A #throwback post

Presenting,

One of the 7 Wonders of the World, 

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!

This magnificent edifice is actually a series of forts constructed as early as from the 7th  century BC. They were eventually being joined together to form a very long fort known as the Great Wall of China.

This historical site is located at the Northern border of China/Mongolia and it took about an hour by bus to get there from Beijing.

Nicole, our Beijing-born tour guide showed us the terrains of mountain and hills on our right side when we were about to reach to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. The Great Wall is so massive and soo long that there were several entries located at different locations of the wall. Ours was the Badaling entrance.

We took a class picture in front of the Great Wall and we were ready to hop about and race to the top!

Raced to the top? Yeah rightt...

The flight of stairs was sooo steep and uneven. Don't you dare to look behind you once you climbed further up if you suffer from acrophobia.

It was a very strenuous journey up there. I am not an athlete, I do not possess incredible stamina, my lung function test result shows that my lung function is not normal (I have allergy since I was a kid which is one of the predisposing factors of asthma but no Alhamdulillah I don't have asthma). In short, I'm not someone you would expect to climb the Great Wall all the way to the top. 

But I had determination, and that was one thing that kept me going. 

How did I do it? I climbed slowly, gripping the metal railing on my left tightly, and I exhaled and inhaled as frequently as I could to get more oxygen and to expel the carbon dioxide accumulated in my body. Plus with higher altitude, the atmospheric pressure gets higher and less oxygen is available. 

It was also so freaking cold, and you shivered uncontrollably when the cold winter wind constantly blew towards you when you're climbing. But it was good, in a way. You did not get sweaty. But some of my friends suffered blocked nose and there was blood coming out but it was coagulated due to the immense cold.

While climbing, we noticed some of the Chinese locals muttering 'Malai-siya', 'Malai-siya' when they passed by us. 

There were several stations, and we stopped to take pictures at each station. The athletes in our class raced to the top with ease while us the not-so-much of an athlete people climbed it slowly, step by step.

As I climbed, I began to recall some of the things I have learned and read about the Great Wall of China. It was built by Shih Huang Ti, the first Emperor of China. Millions of people had died when building the Great Wall and they were just buried at the construction site. Thus, the Great Wall of China has a notorious name which is 'The Longest Cemetery in the World'.

And then, we saw our class banner being flapped and fluttered from one of the stations. Yaay!

On my way up there,  I was thinking of the Disney movie Mulan. How on Earth could the soldiers ran up and down the tower while fighting Shang Yu and his men? And oh, the beacons they lighted to ask for help were available at each tower station.

We had passed about 3 to 4 stations. Most of my friends had stopped climbing even from the first station and with each station we reached. 

I climbed faster than some of them and when I stopped by to get a rest and enjoying the picturesque views of the nature from the Great Wall, Syau had just arrived and she was shocked

"Sarah, you're so fast!"

I grinned "Unbelievable huh?". Syau is our Squash Queen aka an athlete.

 2 guys in my class were behind me and when they saw me, they jokingly  asked "Eh, macam mana Sarah boleh naik sampai sini?" (How could you climb until here?) I just dismissed them and continued climbing.

I climbed with another guy and a girl, both from my class and each time I continued to take one more step, the guy would pant and ask "Nak naik lagi ke Sarah?" and I was like "Of course!". He stopped climbing soon after. hahaha. 

Then, we reached a station. Someone in our class came out of it and ushered us girls into the station,

Oh wow... it was a souvenir shop! Several of my classmates were already there and waiting for the old man (how on Earth did he manage to climb up there everyday?) to carve our names to the..

Guess what?

MEDALS!!!!

But of course, nothing is free in this world. Pay for the medals we must. It was 30 yuan (RM15) for a medal. You can opt not to buy it though.

This is to certify that Sarah Kushairi had 'successfully' climbed the Great Wall of China on the 17th of January 2014. 

We were so elated!!!

The journey downwards was more excruciating. You later realized that your legs hurt when you went down each step. 

The buses were waiting for us and once we stepped inside, we were greeted by a hero's welcome by our classmates. XD

My only regret was that the time given was very short (only for one hour mana cukup!) and that it was approaching dusk and the surrounding got darker.

(Plus a friend of mine sensed there was a dark, sinister feeling creeping up on her.. longest cemetery in the world, remember?)

I wish I could go there again, climbing as far and as high as I could (I doubt I could do so in just one day, the Great Wall is about almost 9 freaking thousands kilometres! @__@) from morning till noon. Insya Allah. I'm gonna have to learn Mandarin laa...

I'm grateful to be given the opportunity to climb the Great Wall at a young age, when I am still full of drive and energy, hahahaha..So, do it when you're still young and energetic!! GO GO GO!!!

Disclaimers: Pictures are from my collection, my roommate Adiba's and our class trip's Facebook group.

Footnotes: 

Long before the first tragedy of MH370 had befallen Malaysia in March 2014, life was good, at least for me and my friends. 

We went to Beijing 2 months before the incident, in January 2014. It was during the Winter season. 

Thus, when the news struck us 2 months later, we were incredulous, each of us thinking 

"It could have been us"

and we (read: me) would imagine the headlines of the newspapers and news networks around the world saying "56 Pharmacy students were in the plane" or "Lebih 50 orang pelajar Farmasi UIA hilang bersama pesawat MH370"

Well, we took Air Asia because it was cheaper, LOL. But it could have happened to us. About 10 of us who went to the trip took MAS (because lambat beli tiket Air Asia thus MAS tickets got cheaper, unbelievable huh?) and it could have happened to them. *shudder*. What's more, they took the MH360 plane to Beijing. Not MH370, but close. One of the crews that served them at that time could have been the same ones who disappeared with MH370. 

Now now. Talking about this incident still saddens me. Let's pray that the truth will be unveiled one day, insya Allah. #prayforMH370