The Great Wall’ker

Some days are more sad than others and this morning was like that. Jon walked with me to The Wall and we said our goodbyes and ’see you in a year’. Then I started walking the Great Wall while Jon stood there until I was out of sight.

I am very grateful that my brother Jon and I have had the chance to spend two months together along The Wall. It is pretty rare that brothers, above the age of 40, spend as much as a week together and rarely under these conditions.

I am going to miss his sense of humour and good company. His excellent Chinese knowledge has made it relatively easy to communicate with the Chinese and there have been few misunderstandings. There are a lot of dialects here. This is something that will probably be quite frustrating the next months.

Here is a list of the things Jon left me:
- Some salt and it’s practical container for making oat meal
- A solid drink of his remaining water
- What was left of his deoderant
- The Chinese words for “Road” and “Direction”

He also offered to loan me his small binoculars and dictionary, but I said ‘no thanks’ due to the weight. The Chinese don’t use deoderant because they sweat differently. So if you walk into a Chinese pharmacy and gesticulate that you want to buy deoderant, they just look at you. For a very long time…

There were no clouds today, so it was hotter than yesterday. After a couple of hours, I got to a place where they gave me some kai shui - boiled drinking water. Later I got to a shop and drank 1.5 litres of Ice Tea and ate a noodle meal.

I started speaking to some 14 year old girls and boys in the shop.  It was fun because we actually had a good talk! Every time they asked a question I didn’t understand, they got visibly irritated and started to mime what they meant, which made it easier to understand.

The terrain was not as hilly as yesterday. The only downside was that there were no trees to shelter under, to get a break from the sun and heat.

I was a bit foolish and walked too fast. Perhaps because I wanted to get as much distance between me and the sad farewell with my brother. I carried 6 litres of water and noticed that my right ankle started to hurt more than usual. I sprained it a couple of years ago and it has been painful, now and again, on this trip. This afternoon it was a little worse than usual, so when I saw the town I am on the outskirts of now, I found a place to rest and spend the night. It was only 3 o’clock when I got here, so I have washed my shirt and socks - Jon will be proud to read this

Time to sleep. Have made a deal with the guy at the neighbouring restaurant, that I’ll be there 7.30 to eat breakfast and make an early start tomorrow. It looks like there are another three-four days left of these hills before I get closer to Jintai. I plan to carry less water the next few days than the previous three. Four litres should do the trick. There are usually some shepherds around and they know where to get water.

I have spoken to Jon tonight.  He took a bus to the people we stayed with yesterday. The Bride and Groom had unfortunately left the party, but there were still a hundred guests there, so he has had a very good day! He heads for Beijing tomorrow, and then back to Scotland after a couple of days.

Takk for følget Jon!!