Wan-li Chang-cheng

This morning I woke up at 5am to prepare myself for a long day at Wan-li Chang-cheng, as the locals call it. I planned a trip to the Great Wall of China starting at JinShanLing to Simatai with my Brazil friends Andre and Carol. After an "American" breakfast, we met our guide "Jacky" who was going to drive us to the largest structure ever created by man. We boarded our van at 7am and met a German by the name of Jan who was traveling on his own. Jacky told us it was going to be just the 4 of us on this hike. I will let the videos tell the rest of the story (more videos to follow). And for those keeping score at home, visiting the Great Wall marks the second time I visited on of the 7 Wonders of the World (Machu Picchu was the other).

Don't forget to check out the photos of the Great Wall

Speaking with Jacky on the drive, he discovered that I practice kungfu and tai chi. Jacky has been practicing tai chi for only 1 year and has always been fascinated with kungfu. He wanted me to practice some tai chi with him at the end of our hike. Well, along the hike Jacky asked me to give him a kungfu pose for one of his pictures. I began to do one of my forms (Little Open Gate) to give him some opportunities to take photos of an American doing kungfu. A few of the locals that were on the wall were asking Jacky how did I know kungfu. They were shocked that an American can perform such moves. Jacky told me that kungfu is not very common among the people living in China. It's more of an honor to study kungfu and you must seek out a master that is willing to teach you. It's more common to learn tai chi because the form is passed down from generation to generation.