They say the world is shrinking and it is, in respect of the ease of world travel. Tourists want to travel to the more remote outposts of the world and adventure travel is increasingly popular.

When I was a child, I dreamed of visiting the Far East and the Great Wall China, in particular. China held a fascination for me but I never dreamed that I would actually get there one day.

My husband and I decided to save up and go on the vacation of a lifetime. We have a friend who lives and works in Japan who speaks Chinese Mandarin fluently, having studied the language at Beijing University and has also worked in Taiwan.

The plan was to visit our friend in Tokyo and see a bit of Japan. Then we flew to Hong Kong to spend some time there and then onto China. Our friend went with us, which made the trip a lot more fun and much easier, having someone to interpret for us.

Beijing is a fascinating place and we did the usual sightseeing, including exploring the Forbidden Palace and Tienanmen Square. One of the striking things is the amount of cars in the city and the background noise of tooting car horns. Then came the time to board the coach to take us to the Great Wall China. We had read as much about it as we could but nothing really prepares you for it.

I was determined to walk the wall, a portion of it anyway, as it stretches over 4,000 miles! When we arrived, it was very busy, mostly with Chinese people and a few foreigners sprinkled here and there. We walked one of the most popular stages of the Great Wall China. It is divided into watchtowers, gateways and old barracks, some sections dating back to the 5th century. The longest human made construction in the world surpassed all expectations.