Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Great Wall

From Dunhuang, we headed to Jiayuguan Fort, which is part of the Great Wall of China.  It was a long drive (about 250 miles, which doesn't sound long, but can take forever in China).  We stopped for lunch in style!  Of course when we do this, we end up with lookie-loos that stand and stare at us while we prepare and eat our food.  I'm not sure why that is so fascinating....  After awhile, we started placing bets on how many people would come stare at us before we finished.


We have arrived at the fort.  First, we rented these crazy bikes (this one's a triple!) to ride around a bit.  The one I was on didn't steer very well and the brakes were terrible.  I decided to go with the Chinese method and ring the little bell constantly, warning people to get out of our way!


Among other things, "no smear,"  whatever that is....

The wall!  And the fort!










The city in the distance is enormous.



Reconstruction work going on here.




Maybe you can make some sense of this sign?

You really have to watch where you walk in China...there are open manholes (and other holes) regularly here, with no warning.

There was an acrobatic performance in the courtyard which was fun to watch.

After visiting the fort, we drove to another section of the Great Wall nearby.  For the record, I climbed all the way to the tower in the distance. 











We were supposed to camp for several nights on this trip, but because of the issues with getting the truck, and Chinese officials squashing plans, this is our first night of bush camping (no facilities at all).  We got lucky and found a nice spot along the wall.

Catherine wanted to show off the cucumber that was part of dinner.


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