Great Wall hike leaves me at a loss for words
A little more than two weeks ago, I hiked a five-mile stretch of the Great Wall, from Jinshanling to Simatai, with my friends Brian and Jill. And boy, it sure was great. It was rather cold and had been snowing and, in fact, our trip had been canceled twice by the friendly people at the Beijing Downtown Backpackers Accomodation due to inclement weather conditions. But after I explained to them that Brian and Jill traveled all the way from a small southern town called Atlanta just to see the Great Wall — and I think at that moment cute little Jill mustered up a tear or two — they relented and agreed to take us on a private trip … for the same price we would have paid had we gone with a group. I thought that was great of them. We paid 155 yuan per person, which included one entry ticket and round-trip transportation for the journey, which was 2.5 hours each way. I thought it was a great deal.
We pretty much had the wall to ourselves, which was great. The sky was great, clear and a perfect blue, which meant visibility, too, was great — we could see snow-covered mountains for miles. Just great. The locals who live near the wall are great. They’re willing to walk the wall with you, and they’ll even offer to sell you things — books, postcards, T-shirts and the like — along the way. They ensured us that their prices were great. (Actually, given the slippery conditions on the wall that day, it really was great to have some people familiar with the route along for the hike — someone had to catch Jill when she fell. If she would have gotten injured, it wouldn’t have been great.)
So, here they are. My 41 photos from the Jinshanling to Simatai hike of the Great Wall. I think that they are … um … hmmmm, what word could I use to describe these photos? … uh … I think these photos are OK.
Also, Brian and Jill will likely be using one of these Great Wall photos — one of the ones featuring them — as their 2005 Christmas card. If you could help them make their choice by commenting on the photo you like best … um yeah, that would be great.
03.13.2005, 9:49 PM · Diary, Observations, Photos, Travel
1 Comments
Oh yeah! THe best part of the wall I guess. Did the same hike, although no snow back then. Looks different.
Compare photos?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saad/sets/45007