The Great Wall is so revered that our arrival is almost underwhelming. We join a tour with the most white people we've seen since Canada. After the gondola, we arrive at a near empty brick path that rises and falls with the mountains. It spans from deserts to the sea and served to keep out the invading Mongols historically.

We pass the no tourists signs as our guide instructed and see what time has done. Errant bricks, weeds, crumbled walls. The group ahead is reassuring. Trees are gray and leafless. Watchtowers across the way create our own Middle Earth sensation.