The wall is up very high and runs along the top of ridges. You can climb up to it or you can take a cable car. We decided to climb up.

It's not an easy walk up but it's a lovely one...

It was good to reach the wall. We wanted to walk to the highest part. It didn't look too far but there are steps going up and down all the way - we thought we could do it though.

There are guard towers built into the wall. Guards used to live in them and they had to watch out for invaders. We felt sorry for them because it's really nice up there but it would get very boring and lonely if you had to stay there and watch out for invaders all the time.

The steps were so high! We helped each other to get up and down each one...

and we just kept going...

and we finally made it to the top. The view was amazing!
We loved being up there.

If you want you can come down by taboggin.

We stayed the night in the village of Bei Gou, just beneath the wall. It's in the countryside so it's green and peaceful and the air is fresh.

The villagers raise their own chooks and ducks and grow their own vegetables in big communal gardens. The older villagers used to be farmers so they're very good at growing things.

We stayed in a village guesthouse.

Some of the rooms had one big bed for a whole family to share. Beds like this would be great for a sleepover!

We had a mah jong table in our room. Mah jong is a traditional and very popular game in China. It's played with tiles and dice. It looks like it would be fun but it might take a while to learn how to play it.

The village has a new library. We could see through the window and it looked really good.

This friendly man used to be a farmer but now he's retired. He's proud of his village and he likes to welcome people. We were glad we'd experienced a village in the countryside before returning to Beijing.

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