On the third day of our trip, we took the chance to go see a 6 KM section of the 7000 KM great wall that has been restored for tourism purposes. the following are the pictures. Unfortunately, the clear skies did not last and many of these pictures are difficult to make out!
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| looking down and then up the wall... the large section in the middle was designed as a headquarters-type facility |
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| a shot from atop one of the guard towers |
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| so many stairs! but what a wonderful experience! |
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| the "un-restored" section of the wall beyond the "do not walk here" sign... needless to say: we walked there! |
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| you can barely make out the wall snaking along the ridges of the mountains as it goes off into the distance |
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| the crumbled remains of a guard tower on the "non-tourist section" of the wall |
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| Tim on guard duty |
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| the descent before the ascent and then the descent and ascent again. (rinse and repeat) |
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| Dread-Tim taking a pic from atop a tower |
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| looking down another section of the wall |
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| because no one would take a picture of me |
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| hurray |
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| and more wall |
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| I am not about to fall over. I am actually standing upright. the bricks were lain at an angle.... haha tick photography! |
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| the way down the mountain was an 8-minute solo toboggan. Here goes Tim |
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| Tim in the Hostel Bar |
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| Currency from all over the world attacked to the wall in our hostel bar |
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| the bar |
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| Qianmen |
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| a shopping district near the south0side of Tiananmen square |
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| the square at night |
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| Mao's Mausoleum |
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| the train station again at night |
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| the far from comfortable waiting room at the train station in Beijing. I traveled home on Friday, January 20th., the Friday evening before the spring festival holiday: the busiest travel time of the year. somewhere near 1 billion people are traveling. I was on the train at the peak of it! luckily I had managed to still get a bed in the sleeper car, but others were not so lucky. many people were left with standing room only tickets. yeah, standing for a 14 hour train.... read this article to get an idea of the scale of traveling: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/china-lunar-new-year_n_1216034.html |
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