The Great WET Wall

After leaving New Hope, our driver took us to the Great Wall of China.  We thought we had felt a couple of drops of rain, but decided we were just imagining it (even though the sky was totally overcast and fog was everywhere) because we had been told by locals that it almost never rains in Beijing and that it is usually very dry... and that the hazy, overcast sky never indicates rain. 

Never say never.

By the time we got to the Great Wall it was pouring.  Not drizzling, not just steady raining…pouring.

We decided we’d driven all the way there and based on the locals assurances of the oddity of rain, figured we’d give it a shot thinking it would not last long.

Boy were we wrong!

As we rode up the ski-lift gondola to the wall (lots of fun even in the rain)…the skies opened up and...had we not had the promise of the earth never being destroyed by rain again…we’d have been worried. 

Sheets and sheets...a torrential downpour.  Think hurricane output minus the wind. 

Let’s just say we were drenched...despite our driver's umbrella.

Notice the red railing drippig in the background.  These pictures just don't do it justice!

But true to China, there is a business man or woman on every corner…and just like I figured they were ON the wall selling…rain ponchos, of course!  I have no idea what we paid for those, but protecting the carmeras was of utmost importance to us, so purchase we did.

post pancho purchase...full out Lily misery

At least now we can say we stood on the Great Wall of China.  Mind you, we didn’t see it because we were walking in clouds…but we were on it.  And, yes the stairs are totally randomly spaced and not level at all and steep and an absolute marvel. 

the clouds parted a bit and we took the opportunity to prove we really were on the Great Wall and not just 'Some Wall'

We took the obligatory pictures and decided that we couldn’t put poor crying Lily through anymore and took the gondola back down.  Had the slide down the mountain not been a river, we could have done that instead…but I am sure for safety reasons they closed it down.

After that we ate at a little Chinese restaurant on the way down and had some nice warm noodles, dumplings, and fried rice.

And to think we were worried about being drenched with sweat!

The drive home through much standing and rushing waters should have been an indicator of what the night and next morning would hold, but we were just too thankful to put dry clothes on to think much about it.

I’ve seen so many pictures of people on the wall in all kinds of weather…but never in a torrential downpour.  It’s our memory…and we’ll laugh about it for a long time…just like Emma and I did all the way up the gondola.

In Him,