THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA - My Flying Drone !!
My first impression of the nearest section of the Great Wall in Beijing was disappointing, I can not say if it was because of the light rain, a massive tourist coach parking lot below, or not poor collapsing countless waves tourist it is clear that these steps have been posed by modern builders, not by ancient craftsmen Although the weather cleared the next day he didn t improve my mood, because the tourist crowds flooded the Wall We made several flights, attracted the attention of hundreds of amazed visitors, and left the tourist paradise as quickly as possible.
A friend of our interpreter Elena has proposed an interesting section of some walls tens of kilometers to the east Huanghuacheng According to him, an artificial lake flooded a part of the wall in this area This is where we came to the end of the despite the day strong wind, we managed to make some flights over the swimming lake in the evening sunlight.
Later, at night, through our pictures, I finally realized what a wonder of the world, we are on the picture point on our views of wall tense from horizon to horizon, rolling down in sinkholes and rock climbing to surrounding mountain ridges It is so beautiful and inexplicable you wonder how people managed to build such a monumental structure.
We spent the next day trying to climb the wall section located west of the lake has been closed to tourists, because this part has undergone restoration recently Finally, we found a ladder left by workers construction, and used to get to the top by one of the watchtowers neglected to tell you the truth, the restored section of the wall doesn t make such an impact that it lacks the spirit old later when we got to the top of the hill, we saw the old part of the wall there were no handrails restored and grass grew between the stones in my opinion, these passages of the wall seem much more interesting, even if they are less suitable for tourist masses probably why this Chinese place gradually cleaned and civilized.
A few days later, unlike spends Mutianyu Wall, we met a girl from Ukraine Irina What a brave person traveling solo, not speaking Chinese, she managed to get to China by hitchhiking through Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan once in China, Irina decided to spend several days of his trip to the Great Wall on her pictures, we saw a completely different shrubs thick wall, crumbling steps, and if areas steep that one would have to crawl there instead of walking amazing how a frail little girl managed to rally the only obstacles, sleeping in ruins of old watchtowers, freezing night, and suffering from thirst during the heat the afternoon.
We wanted Irina good luck, and focused on the research of the other quest Our wall led us to two places Jinshanling Gubeikou magic and beauty.
Jinshanling controversial beauty comes from several factors Although efforts to restore and civilization has already reached that passage of the wall, there was little of maintained trails and a zip line, it was not completely restored Many towers Observation and parts of the wall remain intact second factor is the unique landscape of Wall follows the picturesque lines of the mountains that make this place a paradise for professional photographers If you look at a postcard with the Great Wall of China, it is likely he was shot in Jinshanling.
When we got to spend Gubeikou wall, near Jinshanling, I had the impression that restoration teams have not yet here their foot metal bands just hugged heights of some watchtowers slow decay and lightning appeared here and there by reducing the risk of lightning damage.
In my opinion this is the most meditative passage of the Great Wall Distance and time flows differently here Not like in the outside world There is no rush, no Fluster It seems that you walk slowly enough, but kilometers keep through you do not get tired because there are almost no measures continue to walk along the grassy path along sections of half-broken the wall, where you can see the smallest details the wall structure of a watchtower, then another, and another, it is very difficult to stop at some point we realize that all we want is to keep walking more and more, without stopping but the sun is setting, and it is time to return to a village where we left our car and driver.
We had our share of luck on this trip and one day we left Beijing to pull Badaling, one of the most visited sections of the Great Wall, I expected nothing special from this photo shoot, but I am very disappointed when it emerged that we are wrong in the wrong place the sun was supposed to be taken from in front of the mountain slope, and there was no way to get there in time sunset on the horizon and we went to a local restaurant After dinner, we stepped outside and were amazed by the glorious light of the wall in his holiday illumination Apparently they turn night lighting only during vacation but tonight was a special occasion a VIP guest arrived at the wall and the lights were on especially for him naturally, we decided to fly, I have to give credit to local security officials they kept ent the lights on, even after VIP guest left, giving us a chance to finish our photo shoot.
We spent the last day of our trip to our favorite Chinese Jinshanling I left my helicopter in the car because of the no-fly time Dima shot panoramas and I wondered, looking around Instagram interesting angles We are entered main watchtower, which was closed last time a film crew Near the tower we found a small shop with photographs and coffee flipping through the pages of a book I looked and realized the seller to my surprise that before me was Zhou Wanping, the author M. Zhou, a self taught photographer, lives in a nearby village His photographs of the wall in different seasons has won many prizes in international photo contest and is made famous We admired the winter views of the wall, received an autograph from the author, and went slowly out of the park.
Although during our first picture day trip that I did not imagine not even on the way back to the car, I found myself thinking that I did not want t leave, and maybe I would stay here again.
The Great Wall of China can be easily called a global benchmark, it is hardly a person who know doesn about it or its location, not only because of its obvious name The Great Wall of China is the monument famous, unparalleled in its glory.
Its construction began in the 3rd century BC After the unification of China Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered to build a solid wall to cover the northwestern border of the empire attacks of nomads.
The wall was very difficult The main problem is the lack of appropriate infrastructure there were no roads and not enough water or food for an army of 300,000 workers, not to mention that it was extremely difficult to build such a large building on the given field.
Under the plan, the wall was supposed to run along the mountain range, Bypassing all spurs covering tall and deep gorges This feature, along its length, is what makes the Great Wall of China unique, it blends in with the landscape.
The first sections of the wall were made from the slurry; later he was replaced by stone slabs laid on each other on the soil layers to bond these parts, and to control the growth of weeds in the joints of the plates, the Chinese invented a sealer unique, a mix of thick and sticky rice porridge with hydrated lime However, this innovative technology has been a subject to criticism in southern China, where all the rice crop has been exported around the emperor.
During its long history, the wall has repeatedly changed its appearance some parts were destroyed, while others have been rebuilt from scratch if we question the length, the usual answer is that the total length the Great Wall of China with all its branches is 8850 km therefore, that China point of interest is composed of 6259 km from a real wall 359 km and 2232 km of trenches natural protective barriers such as hills and rivers in this time, the archaeological investigation concluded that the wall was much 21.196 km.
The average height of the Great Wall of China stands 6 6m, although some parts are weaker or more, up to 10 meters high along the wall, you can see the protection of vaults and watchtowers, and fortresses major mountain passes.
In 1987, the Great Wall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in July 2007 it was listed as one of the new wonders of the world during the last decade, the monument was seriously damaged parts of it were destroyed to make way for the construction of roads and other buildings destroyed some were caused by weather heavy rain and sandstorms and other factors.
There were a few cases of unfortunate mix ups generations of local farmers Suizhong built their houses using stones found in the mountains and recently, it was discovered that they used stones from the legendary monument and it is unknown by local authorities and archaeologists.
It is believed that the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon or at least low Earth orbit Both statements are unfounded wasn t even the Chinese astronaut able to see the greatest monument of China; in his attempt to prove the visibility of the wall space, the European Space Agency has published some photographs do not bother image showed one of the streams.
We take our views path below the Earth's orbit, which will allow you to admire the Great Wall of China in all its splendor.
Photo and text by Dmitry Moiseenko and Stanislav Sedov.
The great Wall of China, Great Wall, China.