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.

Blue Sky = Post All Your Pictures Online

Whenever it is a blue sky day in Beijing, all of the sudden it seems Facebook and other sites are flooded with  photos of people living here. We don't really want to show you the polluted skies - we want to show you how pretty it can be when you hike on the Great Wall in the Spring.

 

This is us (three of us) last Saturday, when we started our hike in the little village of Zhangdaokou (40° 24' 51" N, 116° 19' 39 E). Everyone has a camelback with water. :-). You can already see the Great Wall in the distance following the tops of the mountains.

 
In 10 minutes we were up on the Wall. You could go left or right... but we choose to go through the gate in the middle into the valley behind. 

 
A beautiful day.

On the other site of the valley we popped up in another little village.

 

It's a big sight to see two little blond waiguoren (foreigners) in your village. On the picture on the right, Simon walks into a very old walled village where the guards of the Great Wall used to live and sleep when not on duty.

 
Inside the walled village.

Little courtyards ("hofjes")

 
Red signs for good luck (a leftover of the Chinese New Year).

Simon finds a "fish print."

 
A great view on top of the wall that surrounds the village.

 
East meets west, old meets new.

 
From the walled village we go back into the valley and orchards to find a path to the Wall.

The landscape. You can see the Great Wall and one of the watch towers on the hill in the back.

It's Spring! Hurrah! Blue skies and pink flowers, what can be more pretty than this?

Maybe this?

We could look down at Xiangshui Lake where the Great Wall dips into a lake.

The tour guide.

 
 

 
Gege (big brother).

Anna & Wall.

 
Never a dull moment. On the way back the hike actually got pretty tricky. We followed the Wall all the way back to the begin point (close to the bridge and parking area on the right) but the Wall was crumbling down and it wasn't always very easy (or safe) to walk on top.

 
We're still on the trail though.

Oops.

Going back down through Zhangdaokou.

Back at the bridge.

Some firewood left from winter.

 
Spot the difference! (Zoek de 10 verschillen)

Well, these were all my blue sky pictures for this week! On Sunday the weather turned overcast again and since Monday a huge wind has been blowing dust in my eyes. Still, Spring is here, I saw it with my own eyes.

In het Nederlands: Afgelopen zaterdag was het supermooi weer en dan moet je er meteen op uit. We hebben heerlijk gewandeld bij een mooi stuk van de Chinese Muur vlakbij het dorpje Zhangdaokou. Tijdens de wandeling bezoeken we een oud ommuurd dorpje waar vroeger de wachters vertoefden als ze niet op de Muur aan het werk waren.