We left for the wall at 4:30am on a national holiday. It took about 3.5 hours to get there, and it was very smoggy out. When I looked, the particle index was about 400. Apps from China will tell you differently in order to downplay the poor air quality.

30 minutes into the car ride to the wall, I began to get a headache and had trouble breathing. Noting this, I grabbed my air filtering mask and put it on. This made things a lot better.

We got the wall before anyone else made it there. This was a military section of the wall, and the third most popular section of the wall in China. As we got out into the empty parking lot, I paid the attendant and we walked right in. The wall wasn't really open yet. Vendors were just beginning to set up their wares.

I was the very first person to step onto the wall that morning. For the next two hours, I had the entire wall to myself.

The wall was very steep. Stairs were at irregular intervals, jutting at strange angles. In some places, the steps felt like rock climbing, with tall rises and very shallow runs. I found myself climbing up carefully with both hands and feet.

I was only up a little way here, but already I was leaving the smog behind. There was a clear section for a while and then it began to get very, very foggy.

It was funny to still be able to hear the sounds of the highway from this height. I was finally able to take off my air filtering mask.

Every 500 feet or so in altitude stopped on a landing that was made into a little tower. Some of these towers were two stories tall and one could look out of them.

This picture is from the highest tower on this section of the wall. The top of the wall was covered in a thick fog, and nothing could be seen below.

After I reached the top of the wall, I kept moving forward. Eventually the wall sloped downward and took me to a little village-like configuration. I was finally beginning to see other people in the wall at this time - mostly Chinese students.

Everyone wanted pictures of me or with me and I was stopped many times. I didn't understand it at the time, but apparently it's something that happens in China to the average foreigner.

I was told at the bottom of the wall that whomever climbs the wall becomes a Hero. I felt good about this. Then I went to find my colleagues that only climbed part up two towers before heading back down. I had been on the wall for 4 hours, and I had run out of water. I was very tired.

When I got back to the beginning of the wall I found it clogged with people. Everyone was very stressed out, and it was very difficult to climb. The parking lot was filled to the brim with tour busses and people exhausted from the commute. I was glad we left our hotel at 4:30am.

This is a picture of the conference I was speaking at in China. Everything was very well decorated for the conference, and it was good to be indoors.

I went to see the National Olympic Stadium that was across the street and had a difficult time with the air quality. I was one of the few people wearing an air mask.

I went to see the National Olympic Stadium that was across the street and had a difficult time with the air quality. I was one of the few people wearing an air mask.

Air masks have their own section in convenience stores in Beijing. Some of them do nothing, which is why I brough a pack of mine from home. I used one per day, as that is how long the filter was supposed to last with 400 particulate in the air.