^{Beijing, China}

My first time in China was in the year 2010 when I had the chance to visit two main cities in mainland China plus Hong Kong for one whole week. It was a whirlwind trip but it was a good introduction to the country. If you will come upon my post on my Beijing trip, you would learn that our trip was fun, with the exception that there was a heavy downpour during our time at the Great Wall. So when I was booking my flights to India, I purposely chose the itinerary with 15-hour layover so I can revisit this Wonder of the World.
 

 
You might ask, why go for a visit again? Why choose to have a 15-hour long layover, on top of a 12 hour 50 min flight plus another 8-hour flight to see something I’ve already seen? As I mentioned earlier, my first experience wasn’t really a good one. It wasn’t just raining, it was pouring, and we were drenched in rain during our visit in 2010. Because of the bad weather – it was the first day of Spring, we were only able to spend very minimal time and didn’t get the full experience.
I have been on a travel kick lately and have this goal of going to all 7 New Wonders of the World by 2018 (6 now so far) and when I look back on my experiences at all of the Wonders I’ve been to, I cannot give out a good feel on the Great Wall and cannot even answer to myself if it was really “great”. So this layover was just a perfect way for me to actually experience it.
And I did not regret it at all. I was mesmerized by it and was able to fully appreciate it without the pouring rain or even the crowds. It was fascinating to say the least.
And the colors of autumn made it even more beautiful. Don’t you think?
 

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