Here are some of our photos from the trip. (Because of the length of this trip, I am breaking the photos up into several different pages. This eighth section is from our final day together in Beijing.)
1) We flew back to Beijing where we had one day together before Alan flew back to the US. Holly had told us about Cycle China, a company that offers custom bicycle tours including one to the Great Wall. Despite the short notice, they put together a trip for us and even found another couple to join the trip which helped reduce the price.
2) The bicycle trip was about 12 km (8 miles) through the Chinese countryside near the town of Huairou. We cycled through chesnut groves while the farmers were out harvesting. After the hustle and bustle of Beijing, this is just a quiet rural countryside with peaceful farms and pleasant views. The ride involved four or five hill climbs but overall it was a pretty easy bicycle route.
3) This is Jonna, Swan and Sebastian riding past a donkey loaded with chesnuts. Swan and Sebastian are French but have been living in Vietnam for the past five years. They turned out to be very nice companions for our day of biking and hiking.
4) Another scenic shot from our bike ride. For about half the ride we could see the Great Wall in the distance, as well as range after range of hills fading off to the horizon. At times it looked like a Chinese landscape painting that had been brought to life with us cycling through the majestic and ancient hills to the mystical Great Wall of China.
5) In between the bicycling and hiking portions of our excursion, we stopped for a huge lunch at a little Chinese restaurant in the village of Huanghua. The section of the Great Wall that is just north of this village is called Huanghuacheng or Yellow Flower Wall.
6) If you've ever seen photos of the Great Wall of China, you may remember that the photos are usually clogged with tourists. Well, this section of the Great Wall is still be renovated (by the local villages rather than the government) and, as you can see from this photo, it is deserted. We were here for nearly two hours and had the place to ourselves.
7) The lower section of the wall, closest to the village, has already been restored. While the quality of the brick and stone work is so-so, they did take great pains to mimic the design features, like the ditch running down the left side of the wall which funnels water down the side of the walkways rather than streaming down the middle. Not a bad design touch for something build during the Ming dynasty in the 1300s. What you can't see in this picture is how steep the wall is in places. Sometimes you have to stoop over and "walk" on all fours to climb up.
Great Wall, great wonder
Bike and hike through hills and fields
Where's all the people?
8) This shot down the back side of the Great Wall shows the different construction materials. The lower foundation is made from big blocks of stone, probably a meter or more on each side. Then bricks were stacked on top of the foundation. Supposedly the secret to the long lasting mortar is that rice starch was mixed in with the sand for the mortar. This photo also shows the upper, unrestored section of the wall.
9) This is the classic Great Wall shot. The mountain ridges disappearing into the distance with the wall snaking over each ridge. Its not very clear in the photo but you can actually trace the wall all the way up to the peak of the tallest mountain in the distance. Guard towers were placed every few kilometers along the wall and you can see five or six of them in this photo.
10) This is the panorama photo version of the classic Great Wall shot.
11) As we found in Tibet, a great trip needs a great guide. This is Leo, a hip 20 year old who showed us around on this trip. He spoke great english, was friendly, knowledgable and very helpful. A great guy.
Go back to the seventh '06 Tibet Photo Page.
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