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.

The door and Anna have been bad!

Friends,

I have been bad. Many weeks have gone by and my blog just kept showing you the same Chinese New Year's pictures. Mea culpa. I was too busy with life, work, kids and Chinese. Sorry. I have been bad.

Luckily I am not the only one who has been bad. Yesterday I went to the grocery store around the corner and the door had this sign on it:

So we both have been bad! I don't know if the door will be fixed any time soon, but I promise I'll be posting something on my blog in the next few days. Thank you for your patience! 

Fireworks!

Wow, time flies when you are having fun! I was just looking at this older blog post about fireworks in February 2011, and here we are again: Fireworks in February 2013!

The kids are bigger, the fireworks better, but mom's nervousness pretty much the same! :-). These are some pictures from last Saturday, all taken just outside our little compound (neighborhood), on the main road. 

 

The character on the right, he, means congratulations (at least according to my very handy Pleco iPhone app.)

 

Boom! - A lot of the fireworks here are in nifty boxes. You light them once and they just keep going for a while.

 

The audience (left) and some scientists (right) measuring particle pollution from the fireworks. (Wow, who invited them to the party?)

 

The very second we were done, this man came to pick up all our empty boxes. In just a minute, half of the "trash" had been cleaned up!

In het Nederlands: Zaterdagavond was het lekker vuurwerk afsteken. Op 31 december gebeurt er in Beijing niet veel op dat gebied, dus we vinden het leuk om dan het toch zeker een avond tijdens het Chinees Nieuwjaar goed aan te pakken. Boem, boem, Tsssssss. De jongens (alle drie) vinden het in elk geval altijd erg leuk!