The Dawning of a New Year

Some choose to celebrate the New Year with dancing or with champagne, but some Beijingers broke the cliché and hiked the Great Wall to view 2011’s first sunrise. Check out the amazing pictures that are now up on thebeijinger.com gallery which may make some reconsider 2012 plans.

Our group of 11 departed from Beijing at 4AM and arrived at Mutianyu Great Wall at around 5.30AM. The guy who checked the tickets said we were the first group in 2011.

The cable cars were already open but we chose to hike instead. It took us less than 1 hour to get to the top.

The sky was very clear, we could see the eclipse and the stars and at 7 AM, the sun rose.