Yesterday I took the train out of Beijing to the town of Qinhuangdao where I caught a bus to the town of Shanhaiguan, which is a walled city and where the Great Wall hits the sea. The ancient walled city was interesting because over the last year they have basically knocked down 50% of the buildings and built a main street that runs from one end to the other. All the new buildings are done in the traditional style, but what I found odd was that all the new buildings were empty. They appeared to be completed and so I thought it was funny that they were not being occupied. Also, the fact that they were all empty gave the town a ghost town feeling. I did creep around the back part of main street and found it much more interesting, but very poor and very dirty.

I first went down to the sea and looked at the rebuilt portion of the Great Wall that hit the sea...it was ok. Supposedly when it was orginally built there was a large dragon head at the end....but I was sad to find out that they had not reconstructed that. But what I did find interesting Iwere all the fisherman that were fishing just of shore. They were wadding in water up to thier hips and catching fish with hand held nets.

Then I headed back through the ancient city and 2 miles north of town were the great wall actually makes its first swoop up the mountains. This portion was so steep that I could only go up 15 steps before I had to stop and rest. Also, there was no one in the park except for a pack of young girls that liked to stick close to me throwing out random english phrases--like, "Dude it is so cold out here."

After about a mile of very steep climbing the wall starts to crumble away. I did hike on the crumbled portion of the wall, but it seemed never ending and I was getting cold and tired--and so I turned around. From the top I did notice a path that had been created by locals that I decide to take it back to town and avoid the looming taxi drivers that were waiting for me outside the park.

One of the photos is of a bride getting her picture taken on the wall. I was too far away to get a good shot, but can you believe that train...WOW!!!! Maybe Texas is not the only place they like things BIG.

Once I was on the path I realized it was acutally part of the Great Wall, but was very deteriated and covered and grass. The path was great because it took me through farms and straight into town...and there were no taxi drivers hassleing me.

Tonight I will take an overnight train to Nanning, China and then I will catch another train into Vietnam. I was unable to get a soft sleeper and the best I could get is the top of a hard sleeper....so I might be pretty miserable for the next 30 hours. Miss you all and Aunt Marian thank you for the long distance hug. JWhite and BWhite congrats on the beautiful baby girl!

I love and miss you all.

1. Picture one is at the top looking back towards the city and the sea. It was pretty haze and so you probably can't see the water.

2. Picture two is looking up at what I hiked...Steep...right!

3. Three is of the bride