First Day on the Great Wall

First of many 6.30 alarm calls and a quick shower before getting ourselves organised for the day. My blisters had really flared up by this point so Philip helped me by bandaging them up so I could force my feet into my boots. I was extremely worried by this time that I was not going to be able to even take part as my feet were already pounding but I knew that it wasn't an option to give up so I thought of all the sponsors and encouragement everyone had given me and it drove me on through the pain.
Our first experience of breakfast was interesting to say the least. Rather than the usual toast, tea and cereal there were egg fried rice, cabbage with red chilli peppers and odd yellow coloured sweet bread (for want of a better word!) However knowing that we were about to embark on a day of trekking I tucked in and ate what I could then it was time to get on the coach and head to Badaling for the first day of trekking. It was already over 30 degrees when we set off around 8am and would steadily climb to a scorching 36 degrees in the shade! Almost unbearable! As we walked past the sign saying Welcome to the Great Wall I looked up and saw that we had a good climb to even get to the Wall, I don't really know what I expected but it wasn't that! At first it was a nice even paved path but after 5 minutes it was on to uneven, gravelly ground and many many steps. The first half hour was almost impossible and I really doubted myself and wondered how on earth I was going to do it but the thought of letting people down spurred me on and got me through the initial struggle. After I got over the initial shock it was time to take in my surroundings and actually think about the fact I was on the Great Wall of China! Truly amazing after a whole year of thinking about it to be actually there. During the next 5-6 hours we had to take regular breaks to make sure we all stuck together and drank enough water but this was a great excuse to take some pictures and take in the awesome surroundings, it was really hard to believe that we were on the Great Wall. My main challenge was that it was so so hot and there were so so many steps. The challenge was to climb up to the watchtowers which loom every few hundred metres in this particular part of the wall and every time we thought we were at the last one another one appeared over the horizon! The plan was to keep going and then descend for lunch so we pushed on and on then it was finally time to start our descent. This was actually tougher in a way than climbing up to the towers themselves. Scrabbling down gravelly paths when you can see a drop for miles down would test anyone's nerve.
My feet were so sore by now and the heat had almost zapped all my energy along with my 4 litre water supply but then we caught sight of our coach at the bottom and got a second wind. I have never been so grateful to climb into an air conditioned coach and flop onto a seat!
After we had all made it onto the bus we headed to Mrs Wong's for lunch in a local village for our second chinese meal of the day. It was actually really lovely and we had all built up a huge appetite after a day's trek. I hadn't managed to eat much either as my chocolate bars had all melted so had just had a banana, a staple of my diet for the week to come! After a lovely lunch and some pictures it was time to get on the coach and head to our accommodation for the evening where we would eat our third chinese meal of the day and be briefed on the following day's activity before flopping into bed at 10pm! Completely exhausted!

Time for the Challenge to Begin

After a lovely long sleep it was time to check out of the hostel and head back to Beijing Airport to meet our fellow trekkers. We managed to negotiate another taxi fare of 100 Yuan to the airport and settled down for the 30 minute ride. As we were going we started to wonder what the rest of the group would be like, if we would get on and whether we would be trailing at the back. This was one of the things making me most nervous to be honest, what if everyone else was much fitter?! As we navigated ourselves to arrivals we spotted a guy wearing a Charity Challenge t-shirt so we went over and introduced ourselves to Michael, he would be one of our amazing guides for the week. After half an hour or so we spotted some of our fellow trekkers coming through as we recognised them from facebook! It was nice to meet them in person and they were all as lovely in real life as they had been electronically. After some introductions we were rounded up by Michael and Philip (who was the challenge leader and had travelled from the UK with the other trekkers) and put onto our coach which would be our taxi to and from the Wall for the week expertly driven by Mr Wong. We set off for Badaling which was to be our starting point for the week and arrived at our first night's accommodation 2 hours later. It was quite basic but I was pleasantly surprised by the standard. We all met up for dinner and had a beer or two to break the ice before we were debriefed about the challenge that lay ahead. Whether it was deliberate or not Philip put the frighteners on us all and warned us it was going to be incredibly tough and we should prepare ourselves for a very challenging first day. We would be trekking for 6 hours starting on a paved path but soon leading onto uneven crumbling wall before descending down a muddy, stony hill to the coach which would then transfer us to the next stage of the challenge. We were warned about the isolated locations we would be trekking in and told there would be stages where even the fittest person would be struggling, eeeek! No more beer for me after that and I then made a conscious decision to avoid alcohol for the week to make sure I was not compromising myself and ensuring that I would be in the best condition possible for the week. I feared I would need to be! After the chat we stayed up for a couple of hours and played some ice breaker games including one where we had to go round the circle and recite everyone's name. By the time we went round the entire 23 they were all pretty much drummed in! I called it a day about 10pm as we had a 6.30 start the next day, it would be a pattern for the next 5 days!

Toot toot toot!

Great news, today I got my new driving licence and it's valid until 2051! This is the first time I have ever been given my licence for a period longer than 3 years as I've been seizure free for over 7 years now. Gone are the days of dredging up dates in my head of last seizure, hospital appointments and names of specialists. Just hope I stay as lucky as I have been and I don't have to do that again in the future.

Beijing Before the Trek

On arrival at The Peking International Youth Hostel we checked in and it was a relief to get our rucksacks off our backs and flop onto a bed. It was around 1pm when we got there and the first thing on my mind was sleep but we decided to get work through the jet lag and try and adjust to China time. After a nice shower we felt a bit more human and decided to explore Beijing. For some odd reason I decided to wear some pretty new pumps for walking around Beijing, a decision I would live to regret! Anyway we headed out to the shops and just took in the surreal surroundings. My first thoughts were that it wasn't anywhere near as polluted as it is portrayed in the media, Beijing is a wonderfully architecturally stunning city and it is simply huge. After a couple of hours we decided to get some lunch/dinner so we wandered into a shopping mall (mostly to get out of the stifling heat and into an air conditioned haven) and stumbled across a friendly looking restaurant names Shanghai. Being novices of eating out in China we didn't realise that A) The portions are huge, B) They bring out food when it's ready not all at the same time and C) Chinese food in the UK is not the same! We each ordered 3 things and my they were big! I also discovered that I am not coordinated enough to handle chopsticks with ease so the next three weeks would be fun!
After some food we had a bit of a second wind so headed back to the hostel for a quick change where I discovered my feet had been shredded to bits by my pumps! Not good considering the challenge that lay ahead. I managed to patch them up and we went out for an evening walk to some local parks. Our hostel was really near the Forbidden City but we knew that after the trek there was a day tour of Beijing including Forbidden City so instead we went to Beihai Park, £1 to get in and stunning lake and a bar where we samples the local beer for the first time It was pretty good and a bargain at two for £2!
After our refreshment we went to Jingshan Park and climbed up a lot of stairs (would prove to bode well for the week) to find a stunning view across the Forbidden City as dusk fell, a truly awesome sight. After a few minutes we realised it was getting dark fairly rapidly so we decided to head back down the steps and home to the hostel. The odd thing was that even in such a huge city where we stuck out of the crowd we didn't ever feel in any danger. I knew then I was going to love China.

Take off to China

My first recap of many of my amazing trip to China starts now with how we got there.
It seems like a long time ago now but on Friday 25th June after a year of planning and preparing it was time to go to the airport. David had taken the morning off work so he could drive me there and it was a really odd journey as I was really excited but also a little sad as I wasn't going to see him for over 3 weeks. As I checked for the millionth time I had my passport we arrived at the drop off point and then it was time to say bye. I just about managed to keep it together without totally bursting into tears and waved him off then took a deep breath and went to find Lynsey inside. We were flying with Air France to Beijing via Paris but since we hadn't booked in online we ended up sitting at opposite sides of the plane the whole way which was a bit unfortunate.
We had a 2 hour stopover in Paris which was just enough time for me to practice some French and get myself some Chinese Yuan. After a mix up at the travel agents in Edinburgh I only had 400 Yuan rather than the £400 of Yuan that I had ordered. By the time I picked it up it was too late to organise more so this meant I had around £40 for my travels. Luckily the Bureau de Change at Paris did have Yuan so I managed to get the remaining £350 worth there. Although China is cheap, 400 Yuan would have lasted me for the weekend before the trek never mind the week!
After a coffee it was time to board the plane to Beijing and it all started to get more real. We really were in the minority on the plane and it was even worse that we weren't sitting together. Thankfully Air France have an in-flight on demand system so I was able to watch movies and listen to music to pass the time. I tried to sleep a bit too but that plane was loud it was impossible! After 10 long hours we arrived in Beijing. It felt like the middle of the night but actually it was early afternoon as we waited in the queue for passport control I looked around and tried to take it all in. It felt really odd to be somewhere so different but exciting too. We were both accepted no problem then picked up our bags and set off into the unknown that was Beijing. We had decided to get a taxi into the city for easiness but this turned out be be slightly stressful as we were bombarded with people pushing cards into our hands and grabbing our arms trying to drag us over to their cabs. I had looked up in my guidebook how much a taxi should have been and it was 100 Yuan, some of these conmen were trying to charge 280-400 Yuan so we shook them off and managed to find the official taxi rank. After asking the driver to use the meter and confirming it would be around 100 Yuan we got in the back, relieved that we were on our way to the hostel at last after a mammoth trip.
We had booked a room at the Peking International Youth Hostel and we couldn't wait to get there!