Chuckling at my breathlessness, she offers me her shoulder to lean on as we clamber down some of the particularly steep steps. A good saleswoman, she pulls a fan with a picture of the Great Wall out of her bag. We arrive the night before and stay in the nearby town of Gubeikou so we can see the wall at sunset. Our enthusiastic guide, Ray, marches us up the 1000 steps to the wall lugging a chilly bin of champagne and telling us just how fast he can complete parts of the wall. Being blond, I also find myself being beckoned into a couple of Chinese tourists' shots.

Source: New Zealand Herald November 25, 2016 00:12 UTC