The Great Wall’ker

A week ago, the newsdesk in Yulin made a report about the walk I am currently on. I have heard that it will most likely be sent on TV either this evening or tomorrow. It will be fun to see if the interview drives more visitors to the Chinese website.

Tomorrow I set off on the next leg to Shunmu. And there is some really really good news. Andreas from Germany is a very active member of the Great Wall Forum. He has an incredible knowledge of the Great Wall. He leaves for China tomorrow, so we intend spending some days walking together. That will be a lot of fun since it is five months since I last walked together with someone along the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Andreas and I spent some time together in Inner Mongolia this summer when it was simply too hot to walk along The Wall in Ningxia. The plan was to set off yesterday, but I needed to fix the rucksack and also the internet went down at the hotel so I could not upload the pictures for the picture gallery.

I have made a repair to my rucksack now. Or rather a cobbler (shoe maker) has. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I couldn’t get any shots of him in action. One side of the hip-belt has come loose. From my investigation it seems that it was only fastened to the soft part of the hip-belt and has been repaired by using a couple of studs. I hope it holds up. If not, I will have to think of something a little more radical. The rucksack has worked very well and I hope to be able to use it all the way.

A few days ago, some of the girls that work at the hotel knocked on my door asking if we could take some pictures, and make prints of them. So we went to the town square in Yulin and got some night shots. The word has gone around now, so there will probably be more photography sessions when I return. I asked them to pose for this picture showing how some Chinese like to get a shot of the foreigner when they have a chance…

I have spent some time commenting the last two weeks of comments you have made to the website. Many thanks for the comments!! Whenever I have a chance, I read them.  They are good fun and keep me going.

The last days I have spent time with John M and Svein and worked on pictures for the website. Yesterday we went to the Silk Market and bought a much needed woolen hat made of Kashmir wool. At least that is what I hope and believe it is made of! On this picture, John is examining some roller skate wheels that are attached to the heels of one’s shoes.

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John recommended that I visited the Rotary Club of Beijing which I did today. It was fun to be in an international setting again and to meet interesting people from the working world with real jobs. Thank you very much for your hospitality. If there is a chance, I hope to be able to visit you again.

Yesterday I first visited Pingping and Kelly and had a great meal together with them. I also got the chance to try the boots my parents sent from Norway, and they fit!! I was so excited before trying them, fearing that size 47 was not enough and that I needed size 48… But they felt good, although unfamiliar after using jogging shoes the last half year along the Great Wall. I am looking forward to using them to see how they work in action. Many thanks to Pingping for making the right calls at the right time to get them through customs!

Later I got to meet John M and his work companion Svein. It was great to meet some Norwegians again and it felt a little strange to speak the language at first. We had a nice meal together and John described the very interesting work he is involved in with regard to potential treeplanting projects in China. He had also brought a parcel with some equipment from my parents in Norway. He very kindly donated some Norwegian Linie Aquavit and some woolen long John’s. Thank you very much! The Linie Aquavit will keep me warm when the temperatures start dropping the next month.

I am staying at a charming courtyard hotel and the view on the picture is what I see from the window. I am going to work on more pictures for the website, so that job will be done before I return to Yulin in a couple of days.