China Games blog: Derek Ryan

Calgary Flames forward Derek Ryan will be keeping his own blog throughout the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games..
Ryan, 31, is entering his first season with the Flames. In his third entry, Ryan writes from the Great Wall of China, where the Flames visited as a team Sunday. They will play the Boston Bruins at Cadillac Arena in Beijing on Wednesday (7:30 a.m. ET; NBCSN, SN).

BEIJING -- Now this is pretty unreal.
It's hard to know what to expect when you come up here to the Great Wall of China. I've never even spoken with someone who has been here, so I really had no idea beyond what I read about before we came here.
I just did a quick Wikipedia search on the Great Wall to get a little insight for when it started to be built and how it has been maintained. It was just the basic stuff, but coming here to see it for yourself, seeing the site, the view, and then just realizing where you are and pinching yourself because where you are is in China and on the Great Wall, what an experience.
I don't get overwhelmed too often, but this is overwhelming.
There is just so much to take in, so many sites, unreal views, so much wall and such a long history here. If I'm having trouble putting this blog together, it's because I'm speechless at what I'm witnessing.
The most impressive thing to me is the size. The Great Wall is so big. What is it, 13,000 miles long, or something like that. We as a group are only seeing this tiny snippet of it, but it is massive.

The other thing that impresses me is the history. This wall goes back thousands and thousands of years. It was built by people. I can't even imagine what it was like putting this thing together.
I love historic stuff like this. That's one of the reasons I used to be excited to play in Europe -- those places and historical pieces that we just don't have in North America.
I've seen some cool things and been to some amazing places, including Rome and Florence for sure. The Colosseum in Rome has to be up there. But this place, this Great Wall of China -- I don't think exotic is the word, but it's really just out there.
I'll say this with conviction: I don't know many people in my hometown of Spokane, Washington, have been on the Great Wall of China. It's so far away from North America, from Washington, from Calgary, so I know in my small group of friends and family, I'm going to be the only one who can now say he's been here. And that's cool.
That is what life is all about, having these cool experiences.
It's better to have your family along with you, but this team is a family for the year. It's great to have this experience with a new organization, a new team. It's fun to have this as a bonding moment and it's great to come together here.
Just awesome.