Today was pretty amazing. We woke up early got all our gear on. For me, that was a shirt, 3 sweaters, a jacket, 3 pairs of pants, a scarf, mitts, and two pairs of socks. Hey, it's freaking cold outside. In full daylight we could see more of the village we were in; the ancient terra-cotta roofs and wooden walls, the tiny stone streets, and the mountains surrounding it on all sides. Lining the very top of the mountain was the great wall: our destination of the day. We went to the main house and watched the breakfast preparation. The room for the kitchen doubled as the entryway from outside. On each side of the door was a brick structure with a fire underneath and shallow bowls suspended over it, supported by the bricks. Once the lady had collected some twigs and got the fire hot enough, she put food in the bowl and covered it. In the other bowl she prepared the porridge. The only modern amenity in the kitchen was a rice cooker; no fridge, no microwave. They led us into the 3rd and final room of the tiny home, which was a mirror image of the one we were in last night. They had told us for breakfast we would have bread, eggs, and porridge. I was picturing toast, eggs, and oatmeal. Instead we had the most authentically Chinese meal we will likely have on this whole trip. The porridge was a neutral broth thickened with small pieces of corn that they grow just outside the house. The bread was these steamed buns.. It looked like they pulled the dough into long strands and folded it together into a bun shape. They pulled apart easily and were almost a bit hollow; we ate them with the eggs they fried for us (eggs from their chickens of course). We had that with some tea. It was a simple meal, but delicious. The family boiled some water from the well for us to wash our faces and our hands. We then set out with victor and the younger girl who would be our guide for the first portion of the hike as the trail up to the wall was complicated. Victor dropped us off at the head of the trail with some more bottled water (which had frozen in his car overnight) and a phone to call him for pickup on the other end. Then we set up. Remember, the wall sits on top of a mountain, so I really mean it when i say 'up'. Mom almost died. It was grouse-grind style so she had to take it slow. It took just over an hour to get up to the wall, but man was it worth it. We entered the wall at zhengbeilou tower, tower #34. This tower is one of the highest towers and we had sweeping views both ways over the wall. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it was incredible. Zhengbeilou is part of the jiankou great wall, also known as the wild great wall, and it is unrestored. Parts of it are very dangerous due to the steepness and disrepair. But the views were absolutely stunning and the disrepair had it's own realness and charm. We hardly saw anyone on this part of the hike. Our guide led us left, in the direction of the mutainyu great wall, a much more visited portion that is fully restored. We walked for about an hour and a half along jiankou though, and we enjoyed it so much. Our guide left us about an hour in, after showing us a helpful path that cut off climbing up to a very elevated tower. At tower 23, jiankou merged with mutainyu and we began to see more people. The hike got much easier from there, on smooth ground and majority down hill. The views were still incredible. The restored great wall had it's own charms, as we saw the wall in it's full glory, as it was all those years ago. We walked along this portion for about an hour and a half again, and exited by tower 14 and took the cable car down. Mom and I both agree: we are so so glad we did this hike. Though getting up the mountain to the wall was hard, getting to see both restored and unvisited, unrestored sections was worth everything. It was amazing. And I mean amazing. At the base of the cable car station, we visited some vendors then tried to call victor. But he forgot he had a passcode on the phone he gave us, which complicated things. But luckily I had flukishly written down his phone number before I had gotten on the plane, and a man used his phone to call for us. Victor dropped us off at our hostel in central Beijing after about an hour and a half drive. We stayed at the emperor guesthouse, which is in a hutong area. Hutongs are small streets of ancient chinese-style houses with stone streets. The neighborhood is actually quite cute, with people riding their bikes towing piles of fruit or bottles on the back and small shops and restaurants lining the larger hutong street just around the corner. Not to say Beijing isn't a modernized city, but it's neat to see these historic areas still exist, and we get to stay in one. We walked around for a bit after unpacking (western toilets here.. woo!) and then after grabbing dinner, called it a night. It had been a tiring day.