Korean Expat Community for National Disasters

Good day everyone. Today let me share my experience of going to one of the wonders of the world, the Great Wall of China, particularly the Juyongguan part of it. To start and for context, I was participating in an international conference in Beijing at that time, in the Communication University of China. After presenting my paper which ended around 11:30, I hurried to the subway station nearby and hoped to make it on time since that part of the Great Wall closes early and going there would take hours. After going through several transfers, I managed to arrive at Dengshemen station where the bus I need to ride to go to the Great Wall is hiding behind what seemed to be a huge ancient fortress. I did not have an app or transportation card with me, but thank God I met a Chinese lady who can speak English and helped me board the bus with them by paying cash. After seeing the scenery change from skylines to treelines, the Chinese lady told me that I would arrive at my destination soon, but she did not really need to since I could see the meandering wall already and the automatic voice notifier of the bus announced it in English after speaking it in Chinese. Nevertheless, I thank her and got out of the bus, and was greeted by the scent of fresh mountain air. I had limited time so I hurried to the ticket booth, asked when will be the last bus for downtown Beijing, and started climbing as high as I could. On my path, the first stop is a bridge over a stream, then a dark climb inside a fortress where you emerge outside to be greeted by cannons. Climb more and you will see an old town, then all the way up is just more and more fortress. The steps are incredibly steep which may pose a challenge to some people, but you will be rewarded with a view of the mountains and the other parts of the Great Wall below and on the opposite side. I only managed to climb one of the peaks because of my time limit—and yeah, I barely managed to get to the last bus at 5 PM. Anyway, I suggest that if you want to go there, start going there very early in the morning, that way you can enjoy and savor it more while not worrying about a time limit like me, and that’s it! See you in the next podcast.