Two Chinese workers were recently arrested for “irreparably” damaging a section of the Great Wall of China by smashing through it with heavy machinery to create a shortcut.

China’s Great Wall, one of the very few man-made structures visible from space, was built over several centuries from the third century BC. Long sections of the giant structures are still around today and are protected as heritage sites, but that didn’t stop two ignorant workers from simply smashing through a part of it that just happened to be in their way. The two suspects, a 38-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, were working near the affected area and got tired of having to go around the wall in order to reach their destination. They decided to extend a gap in the centuries-old structure to then drive their excavator straight through, instead of going around.

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Robert Loken, a 42-year-old Norwegian engaged in the journey of a life time, following his 21-year-old dream of walking across China’s Great Wall, has finally achieved his goal.

Robert Loken sold his house, quit his job and embarked on his trip with nothing else but the courage and ambition of conquering the Great Wall. It did not matter whether he would be the first to do it or the fastest, so he took his time and just started walking. His incredible journey began last April from Gansu province’s Jiayuguan, the Wall’s western most point, and ended 601 days and 6,000 km later, on Dec. 2nd, in the eastern most point, in Liaoning province’s Dandong.

All this time he had to face temperatures raging from -22C to 40C, scorpions or snakes, but as Robert himself admits, it was all as he imagined it would be. There were definitely some difficult moments, to say the least, one of them being when Robert blacked out for two hours due to high fever, while crossing the snowdrifts in rural Shanxi province. Luckily he had managed to put up his tent beforehand. “If I had lost consciousness, I would have frozen to death in the snow.” He also had to cope with dehydration, scorpions under his tent, snakes, wild dogs chasing him, but he never once thought about giving up. You would think isolation was a big issue as well, but Robert says that although he was physically alone, he always considered the Wall as being his companion “When I went in a town to stock up on food or relax, I would always greet the Great Wall as a friend when I come back.” Keeping a blog was also very helpful and “inspirational”.

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