2. 2009

Beijing, China

Stepping foot on Chinese soil sort of sinks in how big this trip really is. We spent several days in Beijing visiting the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, and a number of other places and things.
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Tracy descends some steep steps into the doorway of a guard tower.
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Tracy descends some steep steps into the doorway of a guard tower.

BeijingChinaTracy Borland2009Great Wall of China

  • A window in a guard tower offers a view of the wall ascending the opposite side of a valley, with another tower watching back at us from far across the way.
  • A canon stands watch over the hillside below.
  • An obligatory self portrait of us and the Great Wall of China.
  • Steep brick stairways are the rule on the wall. This particular one leads up from the main body of the wall into a guard tower just a touch higher.
  • Tourists dot the wall as it shrinks into the distance.
  • Tracy descends some steep steps into the doorway of a guard tower.
  • A 180 degree pano shows the view toward the former land of the Mongols from the impenetrable defense of the wall. At full res, the wall can be seen descending the ridge on the right into this valley and ascending the opposite side to a saddle near the center of the photo.
  • A 360 degree panorama from a small offshoot guard tower shows the Great Wall twisting off in both directions. Following the wall to the left takes it down a ridgeline and into the valley, where it picks up again on the right end of the photo and can be seen ascending the opposite side of the valley below us.
  • The hills of China fall away into the fog in the distance.
  • Looking down the barrel of one of the canon emplacements along the Great Wall.
  • The Great Wall of China twists its way across the landscape with mighty watch towers standing every few hundred feet.
  • The steep nature of the terrain means the Great Wall is mostly comprised of stairs.
  • Tracy smiles during a rest from walking uphill.
  • The Great Wall of China stretches off into the distance, dotted with tourists.
  • Tracy ascends the steep steps to the rooftop of one of the watch towers on the wall.
  • The Great Wall of China stretches off into the distance, dotted with tourists.
  • The Great Wall presents a very formidable barricade against attacks from the ground, and offers defenders a pretty serious advantage over their downhill foes. It's no wonder nobody ever attacked it.
  • Tracy heads down into the interior of a watch tower.
  • A graceful curve in the wall takes it out of sight around a corner.
  • A short distance as the crow flies is made indefinitely longer by the steep drop and rise in the wall.
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