Proposal on the Great Wall captured by Custom Postage Stamps

by Carlotta
(Chicago, IL, USA)

Where it all happened at the Great Wall shown on Custom Postage Stamps

In 2007, I took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to China with my boyfriend, with customized postage stamps capturing the spot.

I love to travel and was looking forward to the adventure, and even though my boyfriend had not traveled very much, he is very interested in Chinese history and culture.

We had saved for a while, and this was our dream trip. This picture was taken during a hike on the Great Wall of China and later put onto a photo stamp. This was was a long and hot excursion covering part of the wall that hadn’t been reconstructed.

As is partly visible in the picture, the wall has uneven surfaces and people hiking have to be very careful not to twist an ankle. Anyone injuring himself or herself would have a long way to go to reach help. We took a pretty easy pace, stopping regularly to re-hydrate and admire the view, which is impressive indeed.

The guard towers are the only places with shade, and we would linger in them sometimes to cool down. There were local villagers in those towers, selling cold water and snacks and souvenirs.

This picture was taken about halfway through the hike, right after we exited one of those guard towers. I had paused to take a picture of the wall as it stretched in front of me, and when I turned around to see if my boyfriend was ready to do the next stretch.....

I found him down on one knee, proposing. It was completely unexpected, and part of me was a little mad at him because I was so sweaty and dusty from hiking – not very romantic – but only a little part, because I was so happy overall.

I said yes, and we walked the rest of the way in a happy haze.

It's amazing how just looking at custom postage stamps can bring back such happy memories!