Adventures of a Blond White Girl

Before I even bought my plane ticket to the Red Dragon, I began planning my journey to the Great Wall of China.

As I searched through the countless tour operators and researched public transit routes, I was turned off by the warnings about the throngs of tourists that would await me at the top of The Wall. I had to tick off this bucket list item but I was determined to do it differently. Then I saw a picture of a 1950’s sidecar.

Without hesitation I emailed Beijing Sideways and booked my retro ride. They would supply a driver and a helmet, I just had to bring cash.

I woke early and walked from my apartment in the Hutong I booked through AirBnb to meet my driver. As I rounded the corned I found him crouched over the side car that would hold my life in its hands...with a ratchet. Things were starting out well.

He had a few key English phrases and a big smile so I hopped in and off we drove into the heights of Beijing morning rush hour.

Before we even left the city, we had clipped a pedestrian and ran two stop lights. Completely exposed to the road in this old motorcycle-sidecar contraption, I knew it would be a day where every traffic rule would be utterly ignored.

Eventually the city gave way to gorgeous countryside and we careened our way up a steep dirt road. My helmet-free renegade driver parked the motorbike outside a run down “restaurant” and we began our accent up to The Great Wall.

The hike was difficult. We climbed up the rocky mountainside and over a crumbling walkway to stand on a part of The Wall that was closed to the public; a section too expensive to maintain and too dangerous to legally allow people to visit.

Up we climbed. There were no steps. There were no railings. The edges of the path along this part of The Wall were a sheer drop. There were also no people.

Only while atop the Great Wall of China did I understand its true wonder. I watched it snake in both directions as far as the eye could see. Through valleys. Over mountains. Into the clouds. It went on forever. And we were the only people there. Words cannot describe how fortunate - and how insignificant - I felt in that moment. One small girl on this monstrous piece of history.

To mark the occasion, we did what any true adventurers would do, we cracked a bottle of wine, dangled our feet over the edge and ate chocolate chip cookies.