Posts Tagged 'Great Wall'

Salty Dogging in China

We’ve been back stateside for nearly a month now and the repatriation process seems to be going well. We’re still in the process of figuring out what we’ll be doing next and where exactly we’ll be doing it. In the meantime, we’re getting some more perspective on our time and experiences in China. While we’re not yet at a point to put our truly profound and well-reflected-upon thoughts into articulately worded blog posts, we can entertain you with dance!

This video was shot over the course of our whole stay in Beijing, the first bit of which was for our newlywed friends, the Hoffmans. The Salty Dog Rag is a Dartmouth Outing Club tradition and Steph and I taught this frisky foxtrot to hundreds of incoming freshmen during the preorientation camping trips program. Interestingly, the native Beijingers and Dartmouth prefrosh had very similar looks on their faces when we first busted out our moves.

A Great Wall.

Stepho and The Wall.

Last week we mentioned going on a hike with a group called the Beijing Hikers to the Yellow Grass Plateau. We recently went on another amazing trip with the same group, this time to a less known section on the Great Wall. We hiked a 20 km (12 mile) section of the wall from Gubeiko (古北口) to Jinshaling (金山岭) to Simatai (司马台). The visit was spectacular and truly awe-inspiring at times. While the day was a bit warm and hazy, it was still clear enough to see miles into the distance and appreciate the true enormity of the wall.

The 4,000 mile-long construction project lasted centuries and claimed an estimated 2 to 3 MILLION lives during it’s making. At it’s peak during the Ming Dynasty it was guarded by over one million men. Walking along the parapets it seemed it would be a lonely task, guarding that wall, which looks into a beautiful but largely uninhabited valley. We visited the wall right at the time of year the fruit trees blossom, so all around the valley were beautiful wild apricot trees blanketed in bright white flowers.

A Great Wall.

A Great Wall.



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