Archive for the “Status every two weeks” Category
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| The last two weeks have been long in effort, but short in perceived time. Does that make sense? I can remember a lot of hard walking because of the heat. But at the same time these reports feel like they are being written more often than every second week.
I am very happy to notice that although my Chinese knowledge is very basic, I seem to have crossed a magical border. When I talked with people earlier, they would understand that my knowledge was basic and ‘give up on me’ as a conversational partner. But now - with a little encouragement from me, they don’t give up that easy. They want me to understand and use different words to explain.. This is great, because then we can get past all the ‘How old are you’ stuff, and start talking about other issues. It also means I can pick up more Chinese! Today for instance - I learnt the Chinese word for snake. |
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You must be tired of hearing all my talk about the weather. Although it was 31 degrees warm today, and not a cloud in the sky till five in the afternoon, it is bearable now because it is cool in the evenings and nights. Also, the wind has a greater cooling effect than a month ago.
The next time I write this two week status, there will only be a week to go until I see my girlfriend again. I’m so happy! It is almost surreal. Half a year is a very long time. |
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| Well, in fact the last three because of the break in Inner Mongolia.The last three weeks have been hot. The trip to Inner Mongolia was a great treat. It was also a wonderful ‘holiday’ from my walk along the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Thanks a lot for the fun we had together Andreas!
Progress has slowed down quite a bit lately because of the mentioned break and heat. I notice that my body works a lot harder in the heat, I eat less and my thoughts and actions become very basic. This affects how many pictures I take, the motivation to write about my experiences while walking the Great Wall and the surplus mental and physical energy. |
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Expecting fairly slow progress the next two weeks. I will have to start walking very early and stop between one and two o’clock - all depending on the weather of course.The weather forecast for tomorrow is 37 C in the shade. That’s hot.
The parcel I received from my parents had some real goodies in it, that will make life easier the next weeks :
DEODORANT! I’ve had a foul smell lately, because I couldn’t get hold of a decent deodorant. A new identical pair of jogging shoes that I have started using. The two pairs should be enough to get me to Datong. A new pair of earphones that keep the noise from high winds out. Also more comfortable when walking along busy roads where there is no Great Wall. A new Panasonic camera that has very good optics and a good zoom lens. More socks and factor 50 suncream. The sun is weaker than a month ago, but because of the heat, I get a lot more exposure than in May. And finally two “Fantomet” magazines. Fantomet is a cartoon figure, and has been my hero since I was about ten years old. It was great to read some of his adventures again! Thank you very much mum and dad! |
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| The last two weeks have been special because they are the first I have spent in China after my brother Jon left. I was very excited to see just how much Chinese I have learnt the two months he was here, and luckily it looks like I have learnt enough to find my way around. Although my understanding is still limited, at least I can catch perhaps a word or two of their questions now, and then they will fill in the (gigantic) gaps.Walking wise, the last two weeks have been about getting to and past Jingtai. I crossed some pretty deserted places and hit on the Yellow river which was a great experience. The last 4 days, I have walked more or less from Jingtai to the doorstep of Zhongwei. I have started splitting the days into two walking sessions avoiding the time between two and six o’clock.
It was a milestone to cross the border from Gansu to Ningxia! Feels great to be finished with one of six Chinese provinces :-) Hopefully, Ningxia will take less time than Gansu.
There have been more ‘rest’ or ‘work with the computer’ days the last two weeks than before, but perhaps I needed them to have a little break, and to get on top of things with regards to correspondence. I am not a ‘loner’ who can walk alone for ten months without contact with friends and family. I also enjoy working with pictures and trying to improve the website. |
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The next two weeks are going to be very hot! I hope to find some trees here and there to hide under when the sun and heat are at their peak. There is no point in sweating away all the water I’m carrying. Hopefully, I will meet Andreas - a member of the Great Wall Forum - in less than a week and we may spend some days walking together in Inner Mongolia. Andreas has intimate knowledge of the rammed earth part of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall and has been very helpful and passed on a lot of his knowledge about it’s route to me. He has agreed to bring a shipment with equipment to China from Norway which I am very grateful for!
The heat affects me a lot, and I notice that I’m eating less than before. Therefore at the end of a long day, I have less energy to write the daily reports. I asked a guy yesterday what where the hottest months in Ningxia and he said July and August. The statistics I have seen indicate that July is the hottest month and June and August are slightly less hot. I’m hoping for an extra cool July and August… |
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| Jon and I have had two good weeks along the Great Wall with many good experiences. Jon took a plane from Beijing to Scotland last night and will be back home soon.The last couple of weeks, water has become the most important issue. The more mountainous region we have hiked through is not so highly populated. Also, it is getting hotter and hotter almost by the day. A few days we have carried five to six litres of water and Ice Tea which has been our treat.Although I’ve tried to use Chinese sun cream with factor 30, my nose is burnt and dry.My ankle is complaining now and again. Although I have not written a lot about it, I think it potentially can become a problem. I sprained it a couple of years ago and it doesn’t seem to have healed properly or completely. The ankle hurts a bit after a day with walking, particularly in the area that it was sprained.I suppose the ankle will either get better as time goes on, or worse. There are still about ten months left of the trip and the sections ahead are a lot more hilly, so I’m hoping for a slow recovery.It is strange to sit here and write this two week status report, because it seems like only a few days since last time. The days and weeks are starting to flow quickly and luckily it looks like the kilometres are also adding up.For those of you that have clicked the logo on the top of the page, you will see that the donation part has been updated! It is now possible to donate money to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The set target for this walk is $25.000, and I really hope to reach it!! I will be writing more about this soon. |
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The biggest challenge the next two weeks will be to live (or should I say survive) without Jon. It is always a luxury to be two people on a trip like this and that luxury has just left the country.Since Jon left Gansu a few days ago, things seem to be going OK and I have a LOT more incentive to study Chinese now. Hopefully I’ll be able to make myself understood and understand more of what others are saying and asking.The next two weeks, I will be monitoring the ankle carefully. I will start each day walking slower than I would like, just to warm it up gradually. The walking sticks are great for stabilizing myself when walking on the ridge of the Great Wall and when climbing up and down the many small valleys formed by erosion.The SUN is becoming a bigger problem now. In about a week it will be at it’s strongest with regards to UV rays. I bought some Nivea sun cream and hope it works properly. My lips are really dry and sore, and my nose is tanned… Although it has been hot the last two weeks, I know that there is more and hotter weather on it’s way.The heat makes everthing harder and slower. One needs more water and it takes more energy and discipline to take photographs. A few days ago I took a break in the middle of the day, but there were no trees or shade in which to take refuge from the sun, so I ended up holding the umbrella the whole time. Not very comfortable. |
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The last two weeks have been long. Luckily not only in perceived time, but in the number of kilometres we have put behind us. We have still not been able to get a proper system up and running for displaying how far we have walked, but we have added a scale on the Great Wall Route showing lengths. Thanks for the hint John.
We have both managed to get new blisters the last two weeks. Jon is having some problems walking on too hard surfaces and I am trying to get familiar with the term “critical mass”. Above a certain weight I get a lot more blisters. Jon has bought a new pair of shoes in Zhangye and I am waiting for a pair that were sent from Norway more than a week ago.We are still in the early days of the walk and have luckily avoided overdoing things. Quite a few days we have taken refuge in a town. I have walked for the day and then gone back to the town in the evening. This has been a good solution as I don’t have to carry a heavy rucksack on these days.We have activated the picture gallery, and hopefully once you install a Flash player, it should work well. Using the Norwegian SIM card on the mobile phone, the daily reports should become close to daily, so we hope you will have something new to read every day!
Many thanks for the messages and encouragement we have received on the website! We have started receiving some questions about the trip, and will try and answer them here soon. |
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Hopefully, we will have sorted out our feet within the next two weeks. Our legs and muscles are fine with the walking, so if we can get our feet to stop producing new blisters every second day, things should get easier.It has been really great to be walking with my brother Jon and his great Chinese knowledge has given us an insight into the lives of many Chinese people. I want to learn some Chinese from him and hope to intensify the process the next two weeks when hopefully our feet won’t be craving too much attention.The next two weeks we should be seeing a lot more of the Great Wall than the previous two. That will hopefully mean that we will be walking more in the terrain and less on small roads.
When it comes to weight, I want to slim down my rucksack. The next couple of weeks I will leave the small rucksack with the laptop, several chargers, cables, extra GPS batteries, extra contact lenses ++ at the last hotel we stay at. This adds up to between 4 and 5 kilo’s and actually about 30% of the total weight of the rucksack. It means we won’t have the PC to update the website with, but we can update the site using the HTC S740! The only limitation will be the two batteries for the phone.
My dream for the last 22 years has been to walk the entire Great Wall. It has not been to inflict as much pain as possible in the process, so I’m looking forward to a lighter rucksack the next weeks  |
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| The last two weeks have been long. After starting to walk as planned, I soon needed to let my feet rest because of multiple blisters. I found out it was just as well to wait till my brother came to Jiayuguan before cutting the umbilical cord to the comforts of the hotel.Whilst in Jiayuguan I got to know Shirley who works with tourism in the Gansu province. She offered to help me along the Great Wall, when needed, which is great as she is a local Chinese and knows the province well. A few days ago I called her to hear if she knew of any hotels in Gao Tai (where my brother and I are resting now) and a few minutes later she had fixed a room for us. Thanks very much Shirley!It has been great fun to walk the last few weeks. Mostly the nature has been dry and harsh. We have seen several sand storms, or rather heard them as they usually do their thing at night time.
Thanks to my brother’s Chinese skills we have met many very hospitable people along the Great Wall which has been a great experience.
On the down side our bodies have taken some punishment. I was ready for some 10-15 km days, but over the desert stretch we did about 20 km pr day for three days in a row. Jon seems to have managed pretty well, but I am having problems with my feet because of too narrow shoes. More about this in a post soon. |
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The next two weeks will be pretty decisive with regards to our bodies. I will probably have to get larger shoes which won’t be easy since I’m a 45, so they might have to be shipped in from Norway.If that sorts itself out, then I think the next two weeks will be easier and we can say goodbye to being REALLY tired every evening because our bodies are not used to the punishment.I hope it gets a little warmer, although I’ll probably regret that statement. It has been really cold at night lately, but it is probably better to freeze a little at night than walk in 40 C temperatures right?
When my feet get sorted out, I want to spend as much time as possible picking up Chinese from my brother. This is the perfect chance. I just have to ask him about everything. So far I have learnt things like: bridge, river, different types of food and don’t touch… The latter has not been needed yet, but last time we were here the locals could get a bit too excited when testing our equipment.
I am also looking forward to taking more pictures and sharing them with you! Have already taken quite a few and I hope to open the picture gallery soon.
One last thing: I notice that I should stop talking about what will happen tomorrow. Plans can change really quickly on a journey like this, so I don’t want to commit myself too much.
As a footnote to the above - we have been reading about the swine flu. Who knows what the world will look like in two weeks time. |
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| The last two and a half weeks have been pretty crazy. Tried to get all the arrows pointing in the same direction and hopefully meet some place, before I went to China a week ago.Now I’m sitting on my bed in a very nice hotel room in Jiayuguan feeling so excited. But I am also very tired because of the last couple of weeks.As you have probably noticed, there have been some fairly major changes to the website lately. It has been widened and there is more information on the front page. I have also added some flags so that different nationalities can get the help they need.
The only two biggish things remaining now are to get the map updating system working (that sounds very fancy, and it is, but it still needs to be touched by human hands before each day’s coordinate is shown on the map) and there is also a little polishing work left on the picture gallery. I can’t wait till these two things are finished so that I can start concentrating on the walking.
My brother comes over in just a week or two and I am so happy that he will be joining me at the beginning of the trip. My mother and father have helped me enormously lately, to get the last details on equipment sorted out. Many thanks!
I will be walking from the first beacon tower of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall to the Jiayuguan Fortress tomorrow. Only 6-7 km, but that was the plan remember? |
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Life (as I know it) is going to change totally the next two weeks. More radically than probably ever before.So far, I have got away with my poor Chinese, as in Beijing one can usually communicate a little in English. From experience though it is harder to find English speaking people along The Wall, but I will improvise and that is part of the fun.Physically things are going to change a great deal too. Although I start with easy walking, I still have a rucksack to carry.
This is what I have been looking forward to for SO long:
To sit beside my tent by the desert in the evening. To look at the moon. To start thinking new thoughts and perhaps pick up thoughts I left behind years ago. To experience the intense silence. To be alone, but not lonely. And to know that for the next year, I will be living my dream. |
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| I received a large box from Vertikal who are sponsoring sports equipment and have been testing their equipment. Lightweight is the keyword, and under that category, amongst others: tent, boots, sleeping mattress, fuel stove and kettle.As with the previous two long hauls, I wish to do the walk along the Great Wall as a fundraiser. Through helpful friends, I have been able to establish contact with a Cancer Institute in the US. The Jimmy Fund supports cancer research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. More to come on this!My body seems to be in shape for this walk. I’m not incredibly strong now, or in incredibly good shape to be honest. But I can walk a fair distance with a 20 kg (40 lbs) rucksack without too many aches and pains. And do the same the day after.
On these long walks, I have always used the first few weeks to slowly ease my body into ‘Expedition mode’. As this walk is estimated to last for a whole year, I plan to use at least a month before aiming for 20 km (13 miles) on average a day. So be patient with me in the beginning, and I promise to come back strong
The same goes for when my brother Jon joins me on The Wall after the first month. We will then walk together for a couple of months which I’m looking forward to already. |
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The next two weeks are going to be full of goodbyes. In fact I have started already. On Friday I said goodbye to a couple and their one month old child.It felt strange when I walked out the door, and we said: “See you again in a year!” to each other.A year is a long time, especially when it is ahead of you, and it is full of what some people would call uncertainty, but I call Adventure. I know, looking back, it will seem as most years - to have passed very quickly.
I’m excited to get going but at the same time prepared for some sort of a ‘culture shock’ when I get to Jiayuguan which is the starting point of The Wall. The people, nature, food, culture and language will be very different. But I will also find the remnants of the Great Wall that I have been dreaming about for the last 22 years. They will act as a familiar friend
Soon I will be writing an ‘Equipment’ page that many of you have been asking for. So many things to get sorted this last week, so it’s time to get going! |
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| In the last two weeks, a lot of things have come together.I have visited Lenovo and Nordialog and received sponsored equipment for the trip. Many thanks! Early next week I hope to receive a large shipment with sports gear from Vertikal that I can start testing. I am particularly excited about the tent that will be my mobile residence for at least eight months of the walk.My cold has gone which is good, so now I can keep on training properly and take long walks outdoors.
Also, with the help of friendly and knowledgable people at the Great Wall Forum, the planned route is getting nearer to completion and will be displayed here shortly.
Finally - I am VERY EXCITED about being able to do this walk as a fundraiser for a large Cancer Institute in the United States. More details coming soon. |
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With only a few weeks left before leaving, things are getting critical. It will be even more important to excercise for the walk. If my body can’t take the daily punishment along The Wall, then the walk won’t last for long.Within two weeks, you should see some fairly big changes on this site as it is set in “Expedition Mode”.The next two weeks will be spent familiarising myself with the Lenovo X200 laptop, HTC S740 mobile phone and the sports equipment. I’ll probably spend some nights outdoors, to use the equipment in real life and to see that everything is working as expected.
There are so many people to thank for getting this project together, that I am writing a separate post with that in mind.
Oh yes - and then I have to order the tickets to get to China! I’m still hoping to leave right at the end of March, but it may be the beginning of April. |
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This is the first post of a series of status reports with two week intervals. |
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| The last two weeks have been hectic, but not as hectic as I had hoped due to a nasty cold.I have been working on the selection and purchase of equipment. My brother and I have been working hard on the website preparing it for “Expedition Mode”.The two major new features will be a Google map with daily updates of starting position, and a picture gallery.
Because of my cold, I have not been able to train as much as expected, but start up again today.
I have received a lot of help from many people the past weeks. Thank you all! Will write more about this in a post soon. |
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Within the next two weeks I expect to have completed the major tasks on the website, and also received and tested 90% of the equipment for the expedition.The training will become more frequent and arduous the following weeks.The Great Wall is a 6.000 km / 4.000 mile long structure. Many places, there are hardly any remains left and therefore it is a difficult task to find the best route along it. I have received invaluable help on this too.
I will also have to get acquainted with Chinese phrases such as: “Where is the closest village?” and “Is this water safe to drink?” |
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