The next part of their adventure took them all the way across the world to China, where they would travel to the Great Wall!

Once off the plane, Mrs. Tucker and Mr. Tucker informed Charlie that there was a surprise visitor awaiting his arrival in China!

“Who is going to be waiting in China for me, mom? I don’t know anyone who lives in China,” Charlie said, but then a thought dawned on him.

“What if Ava were back visiting her grandparents in China? No, it couldn’t be,” he thought to himself.

Or could it?

Just as Charlie was leaving the international arrivals area, a voice called out, “Charlie, Charlie!”

As Charlie wasn’t the tallest seven year old, he couldn’t see who was calling his name, until out from the crowd stepped Ava, who was holding her grandma’s hand.

“Ava, you’re in Beijing,” Charlie called out excitedly.

“Hey, Charlie, great to see you in my home country! Your mom and dad mentioned you would be going to China, and I knew I would be there at the same time. I’m so excited, as they have planned to take us both to the Great Wall–surprise!” Ava replied, feeling very excited about her good friend and their upcoming journey.

“Wow, that is great!” Charlie replied.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, This is my Grandma Mak,” Ava said, smiling up at her kind grandma as she introduced her.

“It is a great pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Mak,” Mrs. Tucker said, bowing her head.

“She does not speak that much English,” Ava replied, while her Grandma said something to her in Mandarin, nodded, and smiled.

“She says it is very nice to meet you, too,” Ava continued.

“No worries, nice to meet her as well,” Mr. Tucker said nodding and smiling back at Ava’s grandma as Charlie watched with his big, bright eyes.

Ava then hugged her grandma more than a couple of times, as she said goodbye in Mandarin. She then made sure her grandma knew to meet her at the Airport at 6 p.m. in two days’ time.

And so the adventure to the Great Wall began. Mr. Tucker had given Charlie and Ava a children’s brochure about the Wall to entertain them on their drive, and many laughs erupted from the back seat of the car.

“Dad, it says that the Great Wall is almost 44 million hotdogs long,”* Charlie said in awe.

“That is a lot of hotdogs, isn’t it Ava,” Mr. Tucker responded, while driving their rental car.

“Yes, Mr. Tucker, I could never eat that many hotdogs,” Ava laughed, and Charlie joined in.

“It says here, dad, that the great wall is very high, 15 to almost 25 feet high in places.* That’s like, well, I’m… How tall do you think I am, Ava?” Charlie asked.

I think you are, hmm… maybe three feet,” Ava replied.

“That means the minimum height of the Great Wall of China is three times higher than you, Charlie, and in places, a little over 8 times higher,” Mrs. Tucker said with emphasize.

“Wow, that is a big wall,” Charlie blurted out as Ava nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, it’s a big and very long wall. I have heard my grandma mention that the Great Wall stretches over desserts, mountains, grasslands, and plateaus,” Ava said, feeling amazed at her people’s incredible accomplishment.

“Wow, that is a long wall. Dad, what are ‘plateaus’?” Charlie responded with a puzzled look on his face.

“It’s an area of fairly high, but quite flat ground,” Mr. Tucker responded.

“Ah, I see,” Charlie replied.

After driving for a little over three hours since they had left Beijing, the Tuckers came to Mutianya, where they parked and took the cable car up to the top of the Great Wall.

“Gosh, I can see the wall from here. It’s huge, isn’t it, Ava?” Charlie said, looking at his friend who was kneeling beside him, as she looked out the window of the cable car at the Wall, too.

“Yeah, it’s big and it looks like it goes on forever,” Ava commented, looking at the hills they passed as they went up and up until they came to the Great Wall itself.

Once on the wall, Charlie, Ava, and Mr. and Mrs. Tucker went for a long stroll. At times, Charlie and Ava were not tall enough to look out over the sides of the great wall. As they would have missed the many beautiful views, Charlie’s parents decided to lift both Charlie and Ava up to see the scenery around them, and what beautiful mountains they did see!

“This is a magnificent structure, isn’t it, dear? Mrs. Tucker observed, extending her arm expansively as she glanced over at her husband.

“Yes, it is hard to fathom how many people and how much time was spent constructing it,” he replied.

“How many people, dad, do you think worked on building this Great Wall,” Charlie asked.

“I think it has been estimated anywhere from 800,000 to almost 3 million people have worked on this wall, Charlie, but no one is certain of the exact number,”* Mr. Tucker replied.

“My grandma said there were soldiers, workers, and even local people who helped to construct the wall. It took a long, long time to build,” Ava added.

The rest of the day was filled with more interesting questions, and everyone learned from their trip to the Great Wall of China.

“Here we go, down, down, and we’re stopping,” Ava said, as she pretended to shrink in her seat as the cable car came to a quick halt.

Everyone laughed as they exited the cable car onto the walkway.

© 2011 Crystal Buchan

* Evans, Thammy. 2006. Great Wall of China: Beijing and Northern China. Bucks, UK: Bradt Travel Guides.

For more interesting facts about the great wall of china, check out this link!