Hello from Huashan

30 August

My hiking glove waving hello from the top of East Peak.

Huashan. Well I am glad I did it, but I doubt I would ever be willing to do it again. Though they may never read this, thank you to every person who patently waited for me to stumble out a Chinese sentence, or who rephrased my bungled Chinese so that an attendant could understand me, or who took a photo of me to share here with you,  or who smiled at me and thanked me for visiting Huashan; my adventure would not have been a pleasurable without you. Huashan has been turned into a sadistic type of amusement park, no rides just punishing amounts of exercise and some perilous attractions. Like all amusement park, everything past the main entrance gets a 5x increase in price and if jammed with people. In America, you expect long lines and screaming children. On Huashan, you find the same, but with an added element of deathly peril because falling here might not just mean a scrapped knee.

Xi'an Bound

26 August

Well I did it! I made the solo weekend trip out to Xi'an to see Huashan and the Terracotta Warriors. The worst trick Murphy played on me was hiding my cheat sheet. All I had to rely for bus numbers and general information was my memory, and my Chinese; it was truly an adventure. I kept a daily journal directed towards my parents which is how I will be posting this trip, and with my Papa's pack, they never truly felt that far away. My trip it isn't over yet. Right now I am on a lay over in Beijing, waiting at LTL for my overnight train to Shanghai ... and I haven't showered in four days!

Papa's trusty pack making the trip with me.

 Friday, 23 August, it was a stressful morning. I have moved all of my belongings to LTL, and all I carry with me is some food, a camera, my boots, a change of clothes in case it rains, seven bottles of water, and a few essentials. It is a disquieting feeling looking at an empty room, only a few items on your back, and no intention of return. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of another. To add to my nervousness about the solo trip and lack of home is my visa. The visa agency is to deliver it to me today with my passport so I can board my train, but without it in hand my stomach is in knots.

Following the Wall From Hebei to Beijing

23 August

Last weekend I went out with the Beijing Hikers on yet another Great Wall hike. I assure you that it doesn't get old. As I explained two posts ago, is so much of the Great Wall to see, and around Beijing the landscape changes greatly. At Jiankou and Mutianyu the wall is wrapped in mists and the lanscape gives it a dramatic backdrop. Gubeikou and Jinshanling host a wall that clings to the spine of rolling hills before sweeping away in the distance on the back of the dragon. Both of them, vastly different, were both walls. Strong, towering and yes crumbling in places, but still a wall. The hike in Yangqing Country of Hebei Province follows a mounded pile of rocks, packed earth, and loose stones masquerading as a wall.

Now that is a great wall ....

Badaling in a Flash

19 August

You can just make out the steam of people marching up that rise.

By a stroke of luck, the route out to my hike this weekend went right past Badaling. When I realized this, I thought to myself – it would be great if I could get some shots to show what I was talking about on the blog. Now I could only shoot out of my bus window, therefore; no one judge me on the quality of these photos please!

Gubeikou to Jinshanling

10 August

Well friends, I finally managed to get to the Great Wall while the sun was shining! Murphy – damn him – just had to come along though, so in addition to my sunshine and cloudless skies on my 10 Kilometer hike was a constant 35 degrees Celsius temperature on a windless day. What? You don’t know what 35 degrees Celsius is in Fahrenheit? Did your Papa not give you a Boeing Approved fridge magnet the size of a mouse pad that has every conversion ratio including jet fuel on it? No. Well your confusion is understandable then, and I am happy to tell you 35 degrees Celsius is roughly 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  (Love you Papa)

Standard, I was here photo

It occurred to me before I started writing this post that I keep mentioning I go to this piece of the Great Wall, but before I actually started going my understanding was that the Great Wall all looked the same (think Mulan, and blame Disney) and stretched in a straight line across the northern part of China. Absolutely, none of that is true, so inspired by the local expat magazine The Beijinger, I have complied a brief introduction to the Great Wall for you.

Immortal Valley Hike

4 August
Yesterday, I went on another hike with the Beijing Hikers. This hike has been named the Immortal Valley Loop, but the literal English translation is something along the lines of "Valley of Peaches and Fairies." Unfortunately for us there was a large traffic going out of Beijing and our 10am start turned into a 12pm start. Lucky for us, we had shade for a good portion of this hike. The start of the hike takes you though a series of shade dappled valleys with nice large, cool pools. Some have running water, and some had waterfalls; each one was pretty in its own way. Nothing could be done about the sheer heat of the day, but the company good and the scenery breath-taking. We reached summit in about two hours flat where we broke for lunch. At the summit is a bare stretch of rock where you are able to get an amazing 360 degree view, and on our clear fine day, you could see for miles.

Always Bring Two Dry Pairs of Socks

July 30

When I was little my Papa always asked me, “Do you have a dry pair of socks?” Most parents reserve this question to trips to the lake, an amusement park with water rides, or trips downtown where one finds temptingly cool water features. Not my Papa, he asked before we went to my brother’s baseball games, or the playground, and probably even the grocery store. I blame this entirely on the Marine Corps (Oorah!), and learned to just keep multiple sets of clothes, not just socks, in a car. The point dear reader is that this past Saturday I went hiking up to the Great Wall, bringing with me a dry pair of socks and clothes. It was not raining when I left, and though the weather called for precipitation, I figured I was either going to be sweaty or soaked. Well it did start misting about twenty minutes into the four or five hours hike (Yippee!), and I was the only one with a fully dry kit to change into – except I neglected shoes! So there I am, nice and dry with the option of putting my dry socks into my wet boots or my bare, pruney feet into those wet boots. I am grieved to report that I only brought ONE pair of dry socks, so in went my poor, abused feet. Sorry, Papa, I tried! Do I still get a cookie, or maybe some petit fours from that bakery in Ferguson?