The Great Wall’ker

Since I got back from China I have noticed two things. Time flies, and I have had to use some time to get acquainted with life in Norway.

Bjørn Sindre and Julie busy cutting a Great Wall section

A week ago, I visited some good friends to the south of Oslo, and we spent an afternoon on a typical Norwegian Christmas activity: baking ginger bread.

Keeping in tradition with what I had spent the last 20 months doing, we managed to create a Great Wall ginger bread house, fully equipped with a ginger bread soldier standing guard, and small jelly men (or were they women?) trying to get over the wall.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and hope you will check back in the new year for more pictures, videos and some posts I have yet to write.

Busy at work, all be it less strenuous than walking.

Julie decorating the walls

Putting the sections together.

Julie showing off the Great Wall ginger bread end product. Notice the soldier standing guard in front. He would probably be better off on the top of the Great Wall.

I’ve been back in Oslo for two weeks already. It is starting to sink in that I am not walking the Great Wall of China anymore. It is definitely going to take some time to get used to life here, as is the transition from solitude to a social life. I’ll write more about that later.

When I was walking the Great Wall, starting the day was simple. Eat and drink in the tent. Pack everything, check I haven’t forgotten anything, and start walking.

Yesterday I borrowed my parents car to go to the dentist. Everything I did felt new to me. Find the keys to the house, find the keys to the car. I went out and realized I had forgotten the keys to the garage. Then I remembered I needed coins for the parking meter in town. As I sat in the car, I remembered I should get my drivers licence from the pouch I have been carrying along the entire Great Wall. Oh yes - and don’t forget to turn on the alarm. Sometimes life is simpler in a tent…

I have been dormant for a little while now, but want to let you know that I intend to keep on writing here. There are more pictures, videos and stories from the Great Wall to come.

Walking the Great Wall of China would have been near to impossible if it had not been for all the help I received along the way from Chinese people. I know that in years to come when I look back on the experience, it will be the kind and helpful people I will remember the most. Being alone for such a long time is a tough experience, so to meet charitable people now and again makes it easier.

Picture taken on the evening of the day I finished my journey along the entire Ming Dynasty Great Wall. I was so grateful for the hospitality shown by the management of Zhonglian hotel!

I do not know the names of most of the people who helped me. The bus drivers that bought me a warm meal during the freezing winter of 2009, the people that many times let me into their homes at the warmest time of the day during the summer of 2009, perhaps asking if I wanted some watermelon before the heat resided and I walked on. People that went out of their way to help me find the right bus, or bus station when I was going from one place to another. The shepherds along the Great Wall that I used to stop and talk to.  Many days they would be the only people I met. All the shop owners who gave me hot water for my instant noodles and let me sit down in their shop for a little rest before walking on. Those that after hearing what I was doing would give me a meal for free. All those with a big smile who let me take pictures of them. The people that shared their Kang (warmed up bed) with me - I can’t count how many times I have been let into Chinese homes to spend the night there. The list is long!

Thanks again to my brother Jon and Kelly who are not Chinese, but have lived there for years, who helped me ease into a very different culture.

Thanks to Shelly of Jiayuguan, who my brother and I had contact with for a long time after the beginning of the walk, for helping us with practical matters.

Thanks to Sue who lives in Denmark but comes from Liaoning - the last Province I walked through - for helping me with the Chinese blog she has been running while I have been walking. Thanks for the help underway and for helping me communicate with all the Chinese that have been interested in the walk. When I return to China, I look forward to inviting friends in China for a walk along the Great Wall!

Many thanks to Helen who lives in Yulin in Shanxi Province. Thankyou for helping to translate when I had problems at the Visa office, for helping with the media in Yulin and then for taking on the large task of translating the blog from English to Chinese! I’m very grateful Helen! Also to Xiaoli who did the translation of the same site in the beginning.

Thanks to Vice-President Mr Dong of the Great Wall Society for welcoming me so nicely to China when I first arrived, and writing a letter of recommendation that helped me on occasions in sticky situations.

A big thanks to Pingping, Kelly, Xiao Zu and Beibei in Beijing for all the help underway with Visa’s, equipment, insurance etc - the list is long. Kelly - thanks for all the world problem solving talks we had while having hour long foot massages. They will be missed!

Thanks to Cherry in Datong, Sherry in Qinhuangdao, Frank in Xining and many others that I could and would call now and again if there was some Chinese I did not understand, and needed some translation help!

Lastly - a big thanks to Zhao Fu Qiang, Vivian and her friends at the Zhonglian International Hotel in Dandong. Vivian called me half a year before I arrived in Dandong inviting me to stay at their hotel once I got to my final destination. At that time, I did not know that they wanted to sponsor my entire stay in Dandong. Once I got there, I was shocked by your generosity. Thank you very much! Knowing that someone was waiting for me at the very end of the walk was a great incentive!

After a flight via London, I arrived in Oslo late last night. A bunch of friends, family and girlfriend turned up at the airport which was very nice. Felt so strange, but really really good to be back home in one piece. Another bunch of friends and colleagues were waiting at my parent’s house and despite the late hours, we had a really good few hours together. It was great to see you all again  

Also thanks for the gifts that included enough socks to get me through 2011, foot massages, SPA stay with my girlfriend, Norwegian food that is impossible to get hold of in China, tickets to the Christmas concert of Bjørn Eidsvåg - an artist I listened lots to along the Great Wall and a calendar for 2011. Many thanks!!!

Am sitting here at my parent’s house after a good and long nights sleep. I’m eating some sandwiches that my mother made, noticing how she has cleverly planted a thick layer of butter between the bread and ‘pålegg’. Haha - I’ll fatten up again in no time.

Here are some pictures that were taken yesterday - thanks a lot for taking and sending them Margrete!

The gang…

First hug with my girlfriend since early May… No - I’m not crying…

Finally home!!

Notice - dirty trousers, and my ‘resting shoes’. The other shoes were left behind in China as they had served their purpose.

Back home at my parent’s house celebrating! Had slept 2-3 hours the last 24, but it was so much fun!!

China just doesn’t want me to leave… The staff at Finnair have been inspired by their Spanish counterparts and are on strike.

My flight is cancelled, and I will be flying BA via London instead.

Now arriving 20.10 at Gardermoen so the get together will be postponed by an hour. (and perhaps a half)

Yesterday, I reached North-Korea 600 days after I took the first steps in the Gobi Desert.

The last couple of kilometres I was followed by a TV crew and two photographers. It was, at times, a little hard taking in what was going on as they were taking pictures, asking me to stand here or there and so forth. The truth is that even if I had been there completely alone, it would have been hard to take in the moment.

The Great Wall at Hushan goes over a small mountain. Then it dives steeply down to the Yalu River. This river marks the border between China and North-Korea. The Great Wall was covered in snow and I was happy once again to be walking with the walking sticks. All the time, I was being photographed and filmed from various angles, high and low. A very strange experience after having walked alone in solitude for so long.

At the bottom of the small mountain, there was a large watchtower. We walked up it, and as I walked the last steps, I made a little video, and also took pictures of my feet where they rested on the watchtower. (Thanks for the tip Roxanne - I’ll post the picture later)  At that point, I was about 100 metres from the North-Korean border. In the distance I could hear manly voices shouting something that seemed well coordinated and military. There were two North-Korean border guards walking on the other side of the river.

Luckily, I remembered to pick up a stone close to the watchtower. This is a tradition I have had on all my longer trips. I pick up a (small) stone at the beginning, and then another one right at the end of my journey. A good memory to have in years to come.

What did I feel at that moment? I was happy, relieved and grateful to have reached my goal. At the same time sad that this life of walking is over for now. These are however feelings I have had the last week or two, and there was no big difference at the end point. Sorry - I was not struck by any unique awe-inspiring thoughts… Hopefully they will come when I return to Norway!

I walked back along the river which was an interesting experience. The path could best be described as an obstacle course. A hanging bridge, several very steep steps, winding steps, 180 degree turns etc. At one point the steps were bolted fast to the mountain and the river was right beneath. At the closest, I reckon the North-Korean border on the other side of the river was only 10 metres away. I made a point of hiding my walking sticks. Didn’t want any rifle-like objects to get the attention from the other side.

I go to Beijing tomorrow, and get to spend one whole day there before heading back home to Norway. That might be when the emotions start hitting me.

Once again - many thanks for all your comments - they are much appreciated! I promise to keep on writing this blog for some time yet. Many of you have said you will miss reading the blog entries, and if so, you can imagine how much I will miss the exciting life I have lived here in China. At the same time, NOT living an exciting life seems alluring now.

22 kilometres yesterday
0 kilometres in a straight line to Hushan Great Wall close to Dandong.

About to start on the trip back home now: Dandong -> Shenyang -> Beijing -> arriving in Oslo December 5th at 18.25. Strange how the trip home is now planned down to the last minute, yet has been postponed time and time again over the last year and a half, due to hardships along the Great Wall.

Will write more about my last day walking to North-Korea later today.

I have been walking longer, faster and with fewer rests than ever before, these last few weeks. This is the poem I have been echoing on long days.

          I will persist until I succeed.
          Always will I take another step.
          If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another.
          In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult…
          I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.

          Og Mandino

Walking the final steps down to the end point of the Hushan Great Wall

A quick note to say I’ve made it. Standing on the last watchtower of the Hushan Great Wall now with only a hundred metres spare to North-Korea. Very mixed emotions, but an enormous sense of relief for reaching a more than 21 year old dream 600 days after I set off from the first watchtower of the Great Wall by Jiayuguan.

Will write more soon. It’s getting cold here, and the journalists need to get back to write their stories. I was driven to yesterday’s end point by people from the hotel, and walked alone for three hours. The last hour I was accompanied by several jounalists on the final stretch to the Great Wall.

UPDATE - Thanks very much for all the nice comments and e-mails. Much appreciated! This indeed shows that I have not been walking alone on the Great Wall, which is a good feeling. I am really tired now, and after a long hot bath I’m off to bed. For the first time in 600 days, I will wake up tomorrow knowing that the Great Wall will take care of itself.