The Great Wall’ker

Yesterday I thought I wasn’t getting anywhere with the GPRS problem because of Easter, so decided to spend the day walking instead of banging my head against the wall. My sponsor of the htc telephone in Norway - Nordialog - has sent my request on to the experts, so I hope it will be solved soon.

I got a taxi to the position where I last stopped walking (find the cross I  drew in the sand two days before) and start walking eastwards, north of Jiayuguan. Soon I’m out there alone and life is good. A few farmers here and there. After a while I get to a beacon tower with eight 2×2 metre (6×6 feet) and little higher constructions. They have a few holes going into the centre which is hollow. Andreas told me about them in advance. I take quite a few pictures of them and start thinking what they were used for.

The soldiers that served along the Great Wall spent their time, for the most part, waiting for an attack that maybe never came. So some scholars believe these constructions were used for some type of alternative industry to make money. There are 3-4 groups of these constructions, all placed close to beacon towers. Some believe they are stoves of some sort, while others think they may have been used as a sort of smoke signaling device.

As I continue walking, I associate that sand and snow behave the same way in some respects. For instance they both pile up behind obstacles when the wind is blowing. They can also be hard to walk through quickly if they have the wrong consistency, as they take the thrust out of your stride. So - we have sandstorms and snowstorms.

I am most certainly a Snowman. I was mostly brought up in Norway and have spent many nights out in the forests in the winter together with friends and alone. So I know what to expect even in pretty cold conditions.

The Sandman in me is having a pretty hard learning curve now.

For instance - what kind of socks should I use? I started off with cotton socks in two thin layers to prevent blisters. But they were much too dense and didn’t let air in or humidity out. Today I used a thin pair of woollen socks and they were great! Like walking on water   :-)  But when I took my shoes off at the end of the day they both had holes at the top… Luckily I have brought more robust woollen socks and will try them soon.

Another Sandman trivia - how many miles to the gallon do I last? (Hvor mange liter på mila?) Yesterday I drank 2 litres on the 15 km trek. That was a lot more than I expected. So I’ll have to drink more when I get to places and stock up where water is abundant - both in my body and outside.

As I walked on and got closer to the designated end point for the day, I suddenly got a shock. In the horizon I seem to recognize a very familiar structure (the header picture) on the dilapidated Wall. I got very emotional thinking that this is the exact same spot I walked past 11 years ago. I walked there with my brother who I will be meeting in only a week’s time. As I got closer I see that this is not the same spot. So I quickly regain control and save the tears for another day…

On Sunday I wanted to start walking, but spent time trying to figure out how to get the GPRS network to work. It works wonders with the Norwegian SIM card, but unfortunately not with the Chinese. So, after having spent quite a few hours alone and then at the local China Mobile place up the street, I was sent to a repair shop.

I came in and this guy was leaning over a mobile cell phone that looked like it was in a deep anaesthetic sleep, with wires hanging out of its open guts. The only thing missing was the classical ‘beep-beep’ sound of its heartbeat. Maybe there was no heartbeat at that point!? So I quickly turned around, as I know my HTC phone works great.  The problem is in the software setup somewhere.

Then I headed back to the hotel once more and decide to lighten my rucksack. I poured out everything on the bed and think ‘Half’. I just want half of whatever I can afford. First the provincial maps are cut so that only the route I’m following and the area around are left. Next I decide to get rid of moisturising cream and liquid soap as half a bar of soap will do and weighs a lot less. (Probably I’ll throw that away too) To you who think I’m a girly: when I went to China my hands were in a bad state. An incredible difference in humidity helped and things are better now.

I go through my clothes next. I only have one pair of trousers, so that is saved. But I have brought some fairly light woollen tops and one of them bit the dust. An extra pair of soles go, as I have found and now use the best ones. The largest waterproof bag goes, as by this time I don’t have that much to keep waterproof! My ten year old wallet says goodbye. And speaking of money… I have spent so much time exchanging large notes for smaller ones to be able to pay for things when I’m in the villages, that they actually weigh quite a bit! So half of them are spent on hotel bills.

Not long ago it was pretty cold here, so I have brought a little bit of used light winter equipment. This also goes. Next I throw out half of the salt tablets (for keeping the salt balance in the desert) and half of the Ibuprofen anti flammatory tablets go. Then I open the different medicine packets and manage to compact and lighten them a lot.

I also brought one of those aluminium emergency rescue blankets. It joins the rest of non-wanted items.

My Great Wall mentor Andreas advised me to bring some pictures of family and friends to show people along The Wall. He even asked if my girlfriend has blond hair which she does. This is very popular here in China. Anyway - I browse through the pictures, and throw away about… half.

All the things are placed in a plastic bag and I am amazed at how much weight I have saved. Don’t have any scales here, but I assume it is at least 2 kg. That is more than this Lenovo Thinkpad I’m writing on now! So, a day that could have sent me into a major depression because of technical difficulties is saved by the ‘half’ project.