China the Beautiful - Winter Wonderland at Jinshanling Great Wall

I have officially entered my last few weeks in China!* I can honestly say I love this country. China gets a lot of bad press most of the time--and yes, pollution and human rights are not issues one can step over easily--but it must be said that this place and its people are more than wonderful and I have enjoyed every day that I was here.

For one, China is just beautiful. Gorgeous, jaw-dropping beautiful. Despite the fact that about a sixth of the world population lives here, you can still find places out in nature where you can be all alone. Such as during this hike last week at Jinshanling Great Wall.

Notice the man hard at work to clear a trail in the below-zero temperatures.

 

 
Modern day and ancient time warriors.

 

 

Once in a while a bit of color is a feast to the eye!

In het Nederlands: Een mooie wandeling bij de Chinese Muur van Jinshanling. De Chinese Muur bestaat uit eigenlijk uit heel veel stukken. Dit is een stukje natuurlijk dicht bij Beijing en nog niet zo touristisch.

* We are soon moving to Brasilia, Brazil.

Conquer the Wall...One Step at a Time

Yesterday I again set out with some friends to "Conquer the Wall," as the organizers of the Great Wall Marathon call it. It was a fantastic day. The sky was blue, the Wall was crooked, and the steps were many!

Last year--when I ran it for the first time--I was a bit in shell shock for running my first half-marathon, but this year I knew what was coming and was more mellow about the whole heavy-climbing and running experience. One of the best parts is seeing so many people from all over the world come to China for the marathon.

The team in pink was a group of senior citizens from Japan. The black number shows they are doing the marathon--a grueling experience that takes you twice up and down the Wall. I guess their elderly home decided to step up the exercise routine!
 

 
This is where we (half-marathon runners) will come down the Wall after the first 7 or so kilometers (and where the marathon runners come down and later...go up!)
 

Before take off...


During the run...
 

  
Great views all around.


...and at the end! It was a great feeling to "just be done with it" ;)


Partners in crime.
 

 
At the finish line, one guy (not someone I know) proposed to his girlfriend after 6 hours of running in the marathon. I guess he realized she was up for any challenge that day...
 

 

  
More happy faces afterwards...
 

 
Incredible blue sky.

 
The results. I had to take a picture because--excuse the bragging--I made it onto page 1 of the results for females. hahaha--that's pretty good I thought! Glad they didn't use tiny notecards for the results.

In het Nederlands: Gisteren was het weer tijd voor de halve marathon op de Chinese Muur. Nu.nl heeft er ook een filmje over. Nu ik hem voor de tweede keer rende had ik er nog meer lol in dan vorig jaar, ook al (of misschien juist omdat) ik nu wist wat me te wachten stond.  Het is soms moeilijk te genieten van het prachtige uitzicht als je vermoeide benen nog weer een trap op moeten, maar toch is het --vooral als het allemaal voorbij is-- een super marathon. ;)  

 

 

 

 

Follow the Way of Mao!

Yesterday a friend and I "followed the way of Mao Zedong"** all the way up the Chinese Wall at Mutianyu. In a lapse of sanity, we decided it was a good idea to train for our half Great Wall Marathon (coming up in three weeks) by running (read: walking) all the way up the steps to the Wall, then on the Wall for another two kilometers or so, and back.

 

(And friends in Holland or America or anywhere else relatively flat, if you think: "That's easy, I can run five kilometers," I invite you to come to Beijing and run five kilometers on the Wall with me. The whole thing--maybe six or so kilometers; my phone said 8.01km but the GPS gets confused on the steps--ended up taking us 1 hour and 50 minutes (including some time spent negotiating with the guy who wanted to sell us his 3 Yuan bottle of water for five times that price).

 

Here is a stellar picture of me, at the ticket window. It's hard to see, but the text above the window says "Slide the ticket," meaning you could perhaps "Slide your ticket" or buy "Tickets for the slide" that brings you back down from the Wall. I am not sure.

 

About an hour after ticket purchase we reach our end point. The Wall turns into a big bush... no more running. (Phew!) (OK, there was no time to take pictures on the way up!)

 

Celebrating the good work! - You might notice that summer has arrived in the Jing!

 

If we had brought a red ribbon, we could have tied it to this tree to show success. The kids are all school children, identified by their blue and white uniforms. (They actually looked remarkably fresh considering they just made the same climb we did.)

 

Great view over the Mutianyu valley. Beijing is somewhere far in the distance.

 

What goes up ...

 

... must come down.

 

Coming down to a watch tower. Better not to be afraid of heights, stairs, or people.

 

**Why "the way of Mao Zedong" you wonder? Well...all the way running up, that was our goal: four gigantic Chinese characters painted on the side of a rock saying "follow the way of Mao"! So we did...except, when we got there, in our euphoric state, we forgot to take a picture! I'll leave that for next time...when you, my precious reader, are coming to Beijing to run this track with me!

 

In het Nederlands: Gegroet familie! Het was natuurlijk een lange radio (Internet) stilte, maar dan hier toch maar een keer weer een nieuw bericht. Gisteren heb ik met een vriendin een flink stuk gelopen- geklommen-gerend om onze arme benen voor te bereiden op de halve marathon over de Chinese muur die we over drie weken gaan rennen. Het is prachtig weer hier opeens. Je kan op de foto's zien dat de zomer is losgebarsten.

Samba on the Simatai

A recent weekend featured the visit of a good old friend from D.C. To celebrate, we packed up our things and for one night stayed at our favorite place under the sun (and on the Wall): the Dongpo Restaurant (also called Simatai Guesthouse).

There's not a big story to tell really; just some fun pictures to share...  We love this hike because you can be all by yourself on the Wall for a couple of hours. Really peaceful, beautiful, and fun!


 
Friday night with great food at the Dongpo restaurant. Mr. Liu is really a good cook.

  
The restaurant and inn is a little courtyard hotel. Behind the red lanterns are the restaurant and about 7 or 8 small rooms all around the courtyard.

  
The boys approved of the sleeping quarters. (The electric blanket helped...) It's getting Spring in Beijing but it's still pretty chilly.


A great view just before sunrise.

 
Around 6 am (!) we set out on our hike across the Simatai Great Wall. The bridge in the beginning is quite an adventure!

 
About half an hour later it is time for "Samba on the Wall." My dance partner is Cassio, a dance instructor from Brazil :-)

 
We spot a monk (and his little brother) meditating on the wall. :-)

 
Room with a view.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 
Someone has to take my picture! :-)

 
We did not bring open fire...


After a couple hours we arrive at Jinshanling Great Wall, the end of another great trip.

  
In the evening we treat ourselves to some spicy fish. Yum!

In het Nederlands: Vandaag maar weer eens wat foto's van een lange wandeling op de Muur. We slapen in een heel eenvoudig hotelletje en gaan dan de volgende ochtend voor zonsopgang de Muur op. De Chinese Muur is op veel plekken een drukke toeristische attractie, dus het is heerlijk er een paar uur in alle stilte overheen te struinen.