The Great Wall of Badaling

I remembered our first visit to the Great Wall eight years ago . It was this feeling that " finally I stepped on this great wall that I have studied in history books ". It was GREAT ! For my two young kids, they have not studied as much in their history books , but they were as excited as I was to step on it. We didn't know what to expect actually , before we stepped on it .

And I remembered as we climbed up, the narrow steps were uneven in heights, and coming down is more frightening than going up .

This time, I was more at ease . However, we had a bad start at the public toilet . The cubicles had no doors ! We had to pay 50 cents RMB to enter and the cubicles had no doors ! The locals just do it openly, naturally ; while we hide at the last cubicle , and takes turn to take care in front .

Then the journey to the Great Wall started here .

Near the entrance . See the walls in the background ?

 We were given one and a half hours to hike up to the 4th station and down . Starting now from this gate :

This part of the great wall had been renovated , making it easier for tourists to hike up . No more unproportioned steps , look :

With these flattened paths, one can easily reach the third stations . Look at these :

The target : to reach the top station in this picture . Look at the number of  visitors on this Friday morning .

This is after second station from the entrance.

This is the path after third station . Here the steps were maintained . Not too far to reach the fourth station from here . There is a toilet up there, not sure if there are doors .
The Great Wall was built so long ago to protect their land from invaders . It was so strong that it stood there till now . It was a great piece of work left by the emperors & people of yester years.
However, I was disappointed to find these pieces of work left by the present generations :

Do we need to carve our names on the heritage of the past just to show that we had been there ?

Walking down is a bit strainous at certain parts of the long paths.
Anyway , all of us were back at the starting point on time ...... except for a few who hike up to the sixth stations ! One who conquers the Great Wall is a great man ........gotta get a certificate to prove  it ? Just pay 10 RMB !