Aug 19

We left the motel early. They had goldfish in the floor in channels. It was an interesting place. 

The dining area was as close to what I envisioned as a Chinese hotel dining area as possible. 

This vendor had all his fish out on mats. It was kinda cool. 

A view from on way up high. This was our morning climb. 

I don't know how this panoramic will come out on the blog, but will try more of them. 

We met a horde of Beijing tourists and they were all taking pictures, so I asked them to take the one picture of me for this blog. One per tour. 

A town from above. I'm always taking close ups of the buildings. This was a different perspective. 

Overlook!

It was too cool to meet up with this touring group, but the coolest part was the inclusion of this woman. I wanted to hug her, but was concerned this was inappropriate, when she reached over and hugged me. Even without any language, we communicated to each other how fabulous it was to see another woman, especially those who are older, out doing. 

Marian, of course, can communicate with the group. 

Cool group!

Riding, as in bike riding. 

Looking out at the Wall. 

A new wall, with a story in the concrete. 

Ok, so we walked up a tiny, overgrown  trail to get to the Great Wall. And I climbed up the wall. Kinda of bold for me; going up was difficult. There are no railings and each step was giant. Coming down was a totally different story. Each "step" was  18" high and 8" deep, very steep. Going up was almost a climb. Going down was nightmarish. Serious vertigo, an almost paralyzing fear of falling and the extreme difficulty of the route made for a very stressful descent. I seriously thought I could not move. Even though I was turned towards the face of the mountain, it was still exceedingly difficult. I got down by telling myself to just take one more step. I did that over a hundred times. Terrifying. But I went up and I came down. 

The view from the top. 

Amazing and worthwhile. Glad I did it. 

The "trail"

I would never have realized this was the trail. 

Mushrooms!

Tea!

More steps up to the scenic overlook; my legs, which can peddle a 60 lb bike up a mountain, were rubbery. 

And from the top

This vendor was shading his wares with a Trek canopy. 

Heading down

There were several cyclists going both directions. 

The statuary around the Ming tours

One of the 13 Ming tombs. They were all locked tight. 

These mill stones are abandoned everywhere. 

 On the diminishing road we decided to check out.

An old bridge, with a tile ridge that matches the Ming Tombs.

The road diminshed too much.

On the way up to a Buddhist temple. Hundreds of steps. Did I mention how many steps I have done today?  Sore, sore legs.

New temple on top of an old one, maybe?

It had a great view for contemplation.

New drum tower

And of course, a bell tower