Andy*Enero's photostream  

Winter dried trees on the Great Wall hillside.

A view from Badaling Great Wall

The Great Wall (万里长城, lit. The Wall of Ten Thousand Li) is a series of fortifications running in general east to west through the entire northern part of China, which is made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, built originally in part to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls had already been begun to be built beginning around the 5th century BC: these, later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty.

Two hours after, touchdown Badaling. It's a freakingly -10C. 冷及了！

December 24, a day before Christmas, we're on our way to Badaling to see the Great Wall of China. No, were not missing the Christmas spirit way back in my hometown, Philippines. Slowly enjoying the hazy traffic out of Beijing business district.