Great Wall
Yesterday I went hiking on the Great Wall with Keen, Clement, and Clement’s friend Sheng. Our segment took about 4 hours and consisted almost entirely of climbs and descents, some of which were treacherously steep and broken. I actually slipped on some loose rocks and fell on my butt at one point going downhill, but I was fine. It’s supposed to be a less touristy area but we still passed the occasional hiker, all of whom were foreign - especially from France and England. The only Chinese people we encountered were selling drinks and souvenirs. They’d stake out places in towers where hikers would have just ascended steep sections of the wall. Some were persistent and one lady followed us and talked to us for at least 5 minutes until we took a break, at which point she tried selling us water, coke, a t-shirt, a book about the wall, postcards, and bracelets. We bought the water and the coke so she’d leave us alone. The most interesting part of the trip for me was seeing an old man herding goats on a hill next to the wall. He stopped on the wall to talk to us for a while (well, to talk to Clement in Chinese). He was curious about where we were from and said he was 78 years old and told Clement a bit about his 2 sons. He was the only Chinese person there that didn’t try to sell us anything :]
Vickie wrote:
Oooh, looks like you went to a different part of the Great Wall than we did when we went. It looks less touristy where you were, that’s really nice! It’s hard enough trying not to fall all the way down w/o people crowding you. Then again, maybe you would have had someone to cushion your fall. ^_^ Great photos! Hope you’re doing well!
Posted on 05-Sep-07 at 12:40 am | Permalink