Fear of Heights

I'm not the one who's scared of heights.  That's my mom.  And no, even though I knew about the chair lift and alpine slide at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, I didn't mention it until we got there. 

This was another first for me as well.  I don't know what the section I went to in the fall is called.  It was billed by my hostel as "Secret Great Wall," and it did seem pretty secret as there were very few people there.  However, I'd heard many good things about the Mutianyu section, so that's where I decided to take my parents. 
Upon arrival, we had to take a chair lift up from the parking lot to the wall.  There, we had a choice of which way to hike and of course we chose the unrestored section, and completely ignored the "not open to public" sign.  To be fair, lots of other people ignored it too.

The restored section, with the now familiar smog

Our path

After walking as far as we could along the unrestored part of the wall, we headed back to our starting point, where our options to return to the parking lot and our driver were either the chair lift back down or an alpine slide.

Which do you think we chose?

We couldn't pass up the chance to take an alpine slide, after all.

Despite a bit of smog, we had a lovely day at the Great Wall.  I know that the Wall inspired thoughts of grandeur and, well, greatness, but actually I'm much more inspired and awed by the sections that are so crumbled and old that it is barely recognizable as a wall at all.  I think my parents felt the same way.  After all, we share a devotion to Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers, and always take their lessons to heart.  Don't restore anything, don't repaint anything, don't fix anything.  It's a lesson China could try to learn.