Aug 23, 2006 - Great Wall

I am leaving for Lhasa tonight on a train. Don't know when the next time I can post will be. Here are some shots from the Great Wall. We were dropped off at a place called Jinshanling and got to hike about 10km to the pickup spot at Simitai. At then end of the hike, there is a zipline going over the river you can choose to go on instead of hiking down. In the last photo, you can see where the wires start just below where I'm standing taking the picture. The zipline ends at the orange hut on the other side. In the shot, you can barely make...

Oct 17, 2005 - The Great Wall

There is a saying in China, that you haven't lived until you have been to the Great Wall. Now we have, and it is amazing. All the segments together total about 4500 miles, that would go from San Diego to New York and half way across the Atlantic. It is so huge, that you can only see a tiny part at a time. We visited a famous part on the outskirts of Beijing. It was originally built in 290 BC, and refurbished in the 1300's during the Ming Dynasty. The Chinese culture was very advanced, and they had a rennaisance of their own at about the...