Staying at the Commune by the Great Wall, I had glimpses of the wall as we drove in. But when I set out to hike to the Great Wall on a dirt path with jagged rocks jutting out as to compete for attention with the surrounding lush green forest, I had no idea how wondrous seeing the Great Wall of China would be.

On a rare bluebird day (the factories were all shut down for a national holiday and thus the air quality improved dramatically overnight), I made my way on to the wall and began the roller coaster journey of trekking up and down the steep spine of the winding dragon. Alone, I could not help but mutter out loud an audible 'wow' as I absorbed the magnitude of the wall. Higher, steeper, and longer than you could ever imagine- the Great Wall is indeed great.