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.

Bohai or Bust

Last Sunday, we went up to Bohai Township near the Great Wall to participate in the 2011 Bohai or Bust bike event. It's a fundraiser for the elderly of Bohai, and also a great opportunity to ride around the beautiful area: lots of hills--only two were too much for me and I had to walk up, lots of little villages, trout farms, chestnut orchards, and far-way views of the Wall.

I thought the short movie about the event was pretty funny (watch it here). (It helps if you've seen a couple scenes from Chinese movies...)

Here's the cast of characters (and some views):

Blue boy.

Green boy.

Papa bear.

Mountain mama.

Biking in Bohai.

Some guys sitting around.

Nice roads for biking. The traffic was not bad at all, just a few cars now and then. We also left early for our ride, so we barely saw the other bikers. (Plus, we were on the routes for 10 and 25 kilometers, not 60 or 90 kilometers as some were doing!)

Little village playground where we had a rest. Simon stretched his legs on the swings. Can you spot the Great Wall in the distance on top of the hill?

View back to the village from the playground.

Snapshot of a village street. I have to admit I saw far more cool things on this bike ride--like intereseting murals, statues, cute village streets, running street dogs, and people hanging around drinking tea on a Sunday morning--but I could't stop each time to take a picture. Sorry!

Another stopping point. The boys climbed up this tower. Toward the top it didn't seem so solid anymore, and everyone headed down quickly.

At the foot of tower was also this little girl with both her parents and grandma. I included this picture not only for the view, but also because it is actually so typical to see the parents--like this father in the picture--doting over their son or daughter. Without a sibling (thanks to the one-child policy) there's lots of attention to be had.

Another view from the base of the tower.

The boys' bike team. Both were riding cool tag-alongs attached to our mountain bikes (all rented). At this point, we've probably done about 35 kilometer and are heading back to the starting point.

Back at the Roadhouse (part of The Schoolhouse complex of eco-tourism venues near the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall).

Back at the Roadhouse we eat a big bowl of well-deserved and tasty dumplings.

We're not the only ones getting food.

Inside a music band played, the kids roamed around, and several officials spoke about the fundraiser.

It definitely was a great event. Who knows, we might be doing it again in 2012!

In het Nederlands: Afgelopen zondag zijn we wezen fietsen in het bergachtige gebied vlakbij het Mutianyu gedeelte van de Chinese Muur. Ontzettend mooi, al weten m'n benen nog precies hoeveel heuvels we opgeklommen en afgezoefd zijn. De jongens vond het ook leuk, maar moesten wel af en toe even de benen strekken bij een speeltuintje of een klimtoren. Het fietstocht was een inzamelingsaktie voor de senioren van de gemeente Bohai.