[Hypiereon]

Hate to burst anyone's bubble, and maybe I'm just being cynical, but when I went to see the Great Wall it was a Great Disappointment.

History notwithstanding here were my observations:

1. "It is a wall."
2. "It is actually a rather short wall."
3. "It is set on the very edges of the local mountainous features - in the middle of nowhere."
4. "It is very difficult to walk on." (Extremely steep and slippery in some places, and dangerous.)
5. "The view is obscured by smog, fog, and/or pollution." (Take your pick).
6. "Let's take my picture with the wall and get back to BeiJing city proper."

I was more impressed when I saw the city walls of Xi'An.
Observation: "Now THAT'S a WALL!!!"

I felt more immersed in Chinese culture and history when visiting The Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven - all located in BeiJing and fairly close to each other. Taken together they are WAY too big to be able to see all three in a single day. Maybe the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven one day, and the Forbidden City on another day.

I felt actually "connected" to history when I walked across Tian An Men square where an "incident" occured on June 4th, 1989.

Guess I'm just harder to impress.