I felt the intense fl aps of a torn fl ag in a gale. A chill spurred my pace. I started running from the gate to the left, along a treeless road with sparse traffi c, past a line of closed doors that looked to be sleeping. The dull gray turned pale white when I got on the fi rst bus from the closest stop to the metro station. On the bus, still panting, I intended to make a shift in my schedule - from the nearest to the furthest, from the easiest to the hardest. Rather than visiting the Forbidden City with Guo and Ru, I vigorously desired to climb and see the wild part of the Mutianyu Great Wall.