China day 3
7:30 board the bus for a 3hour trip hrough Beijing to the wall.
Interesting note...there are some people who are employed to just sweep the road...leaves, dust , whatever....others are hauling brick in the rickshaw type vehicles...There are some huge semis...some huge projects...just setting up scaffolding would take us days....these guys maybe not...seems like either tearing down old buildings or building new ones....there are some stunning new housing projects.....but some awful rundown areas...work almost seems to go on dayround.....safety not much of an issue here....
Let me tell you the ride was as interesting and awe inspiring as the wall.
There seem to be no rules of driving. I sat on the elevated seats at the back and watched in awe as we drove sometimes 4 cars across on a two lane highway....passing on the left or right whichever afforded the best success. Honking horns at people on bikes, pedicabs, 3 wheel trucks, pedestrians, people turning right in front of you....or left or stopping. The only thing that seems the same is the traffic lights. What an experience. Lots of open area when we get out of the city but there certainly are lots of people in the villages and cities. It is like you see it on tv but welll..more lifelike even with all the excitement of the ride...some people were going to sleep.....must have been the jet lag!
The great wall was just that. Is definitely a tourist attraction. Lots of people there and it takes a lot of energy to climb it. Some take the cable car to the 8th tower and others will only walk part of it. Dummy....what were you thinking about wearing jeans to walk there....oh well. Mark Chapman and I went right to the 12th tower from the bottom. Some severely steep sections ..pedlars trying to sell you stuff will walk with you all the way to the top. Bob actually had one fanning him for part of the way!!!! Sweated like a human all the way up. Mark had a small part of his t shirt that was not water stained from the trek. We took some awesome photos and I will try to post them as soon as possible. Interesting thing...Bob took his golf club and at halfway point took pictures of us all teeing the ball up and hitting off the wall. He was thelonly one who actually did it and took out a brick in the process. But he was able to drive a ball into Inner Mongolia. .....there was a line up of about 40 people that were wanting a picture....thought seriously of setting up a fracnhise for that and baseball or hockey or badminton or tennis...employ people to find the balls etc. 12th tower was as far as you could go. Apparently 5 or was it 25 people had died going up to the 14th. but I would have liked to try it...there were guards to prevent it. Coming down was good too. Entrepreneurs selling souvenirs about climbing....we all bought one. .... I happened to pick up part of the wall and will bring it back. Went on the Zip line back......sliding down a wire..was a little exciting. Said my will will have to be changed......if my runners make it through the Beijing marathon too, then I think they go up in smoke with me.
Bought two hats to add to my collection....did a little bartering for them...got the sellers to sign them...they were going to charge for that too....not..
The drive back....Bob said there are 12000 deaths in Baeijing area each year in traffic accidents...we saw one of them...not a death but the aftermath of the accident...interesting truck passing strategy....a car passed on the right side...the bus passed on the left and we sort of met on the front after passing...like I said "What rules"....just laughed.
Got back here at 6:30. Went for a 40 minute run...was supposed to be 70 but I figured that the walk was worth something. Went to the a restaurant again for a $3.00 full meal with 3 others. Food is cheap especially if you eat the local stuff. Haven't really tried to do anything out of the ordinary...but will sooner or later.
Bed again late.
Next day...Sunday....Bob and Mark went to scout out a hotel for Bob's birthday next Friday in Beijing. I stayed back....finished unpacking...cleaned up the house...went to the local market to buy some stuff that we needed......tea towels, bathroom tissue, milk, eggs, some fruit.....all is available about two blocks away. Sask flag on the wall and riders hat at the doorway..damn fine sight....first encounter with a cockroach...big bugger...I won.....made a Jello lemon pudding...Bob was impressed...
Had supper with 5 others that night....different foods....same low,, low prices....little girl pulled Kirsten and I to the dance studio at the end of the block so we went there and then the rest of the group also went there. Kind of a neat concept...there were several couples.... women....man and woman....all doing some traditional dance...we tried the old time waltz and the jive....sure showed them.
Mark and Bob had a good day in Beijing.....they even found a Big Turk bar at the Friendship Centre......what nice guys hey.
Was able to get onto the computer of Stephen for a couple of hours and clear up some email and check some sites. Saw that the Riders were kicking ass again. Guess me leaving was just what the dr ordered. gets dark early and have been able to actually see the sun ...it is still hot...
Bed at about 11
Interesting note...there are some people who are employed to just sweep the road...leaves, dust , whatever....others are hauling brick in the rickshaw type vehicles...There are some huge semis...some huge projects...just setting up scaffolding would take us days....these guys maybe not...seems like either tearing down old buildings or building new ones....there are some stunning new housing projects.....but some awful rundown areas...work almost seems to go on dayround.....safety not much of an issue here....
Let me tell you the ride was as interesting and awe inspiring as the wall.
There seem to be no rules of driving. I sat on the elevated seats at the back and watched in awe as we drove sometimes 4 cars across on a two lane highway....passing on the left or right whichever afforded the best success. Honking horns at people on bikes, pedicabs, 3 wheel trucks, pedestrians, people turning right in front of you....or left or stopping. The only thing that seems the same is the traffic lights. What an experience. Lots of open area when we get out of the city but there certainly are lots of people in the villages and cities. It is like you see it on tv but welll..more lifelike even with all the excitement of the ride...some people were going to sleep.....must have been the jet lag!
The great wall was just that. Is definitely a tourist attraction. Lots of people there and it takes a lot of energy to climb it. Some take the cable car to the 8th tower and others will only walk part of it. Dummy....what were you thinking about wearing jeans to walk there....oh well. Mark Chapman and I went right to the 12th tower from the bottom. Some severely steep sections ..pedlars trying to sell you stuff will walk with you all the way to the top. Bob actually had one fanning him for part of the way!!!! Sweated like a human all the way up. Mark had a small part of his t shirt that was not water stained from the trek. We took some awesome photos and I will try to post them as soon as possible. Interesting thing...Bob took his golf club and at halfway point took pictures of us all teeing the ball up and hitting off the wall. He was thelonly one who actually did it and took out a brick in the process. But he was able to drive a ball into Inner Mongolia. .....there was a line up of about 40 people that were wanting a picture....thought seriously of setting up a fracnhise for that and baseball or hockey or badminton or tennis...employ people to find the balls etc. 12th tower was as far as you could go. Apparently 5 or was it 25 people had died going up to the 14th. but I would have liked to try it...there were guards to prevent it. Coming down was good too. Entrepreneurs selling souvenirs about climbing....we all bought one. .... I happened to pick up part of the wall and will bring it back. Went on the Zip line back......sliding down a wire..was a little exciting. Said my will will have to be changed......if my runners make it through the Beijing marathon too, then I think they go up in smoke with me.
Bought two hats to add to my collection....did a little bartering for them...got the sellers to sign them...they were going to charge for that too....not..
The drive back....Bob said there are 12000 deaths in Baeijing area each year in traffic accidents...we saw one of them...not a death but the aftermath of the accident...interesting truck passing strategy....a car passed on the right side...the bus passed on the left and we sort of met on the front after passing...like I said "What rules"....just laughed.
Got back here at 6:30. Went for a 40 minute run...was supposed to be 70 but I figured that the walk was worth something. Went to the a restaurant again for a $3.00 full meal with 3 others. Food is cheap especially if you eat the local stuff. Haven't really tried to do anything out of the ordinary...but will sooner or later.
Bed again late.
Next day...Sunday....Bob and Mark went to scout out a hotel for Bob's birthday next Friday in Beijing. I stayed back....finished unpacking...cleaned up the house...went to the local market to buy some stuff that we needed......tea towels, bathroom tissue, milk, eggs, some fruit.....all is available about two blocks away. Sask flag on the wall and riders hat at the doorway..damn fine sight....first encounter with a cockroach...big bugger...I won.....made a Jello lemon pudding...Bob was impressed...
Had supper with 5 others that night....different foods....same low,, low prices....little girl pulled Kirsten and I to the dance studio at the end of the block so we went there and then the rest of the group also went there. Kind of a neat concept...there were several couples.... women....man and woman....all doing some traditional dance...we tried the old time waltz and the jive....sure showed them.
Mark and Bob had a good day in Beijing.....they even found a Big Turk bar at the Friendship Centre......what nice guys hey.
Was able to get onto the computer of Stephen for a couple of hours and clear up some email and check some sites. Saw that the Riders were kicking ass again. Guess me leaving was just what the dr ordered. gets dark early and have been able to actually see the sun ...it is still hot...
Bed at about 11
posted by 12thhobo | 5:57 AM
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