Camping on the Wall

A little over a week ago us CSAers and friends went on the excursion of a lifetime...or so it would seem.  Everyone always talks about how magnificent and wonderful the Great Wall of China is.  The title alone of course gives us some inkling as to...well...the greatness of it.  This trip would be my third time experiencing the wall, and let me tell you, while some things are in fact great.....some things are definitely not.

First time I went was to a restored section at Mutianyu where my favorite part was getting to ride in a mini car type deal down a slide to the bottom.  The second was a 9 mile hike along a section of the wall that was NOT restored.  Think crumbling wall and shaky foundation, basically walking on loose rocks very high up with not much to hold on to.  Me being slightly afraid of heights did not particularly enjoy that excursion.  Hayley and I cried.  A few times.   The best part of that trip was the zip line down to lunch.  Zip lines im ok with.  when im strapped in a secured im good, but scaling cliff faces with a purse and slippy running shoes does not exactly make me feel secure. I will have to admit though, that while i was terrified for most of the trip, I was glad i went because i never expected to have that experience again.  Well more accurately, i never expected to subject myself to such torture again.  Which brings me to last weekend.

At about 11am saturday morning our bus load of people headed out on the 3 hour drive to the particular village we would start the hike from.  Buses in china...or at least the one we were on, are not anything like the big buses in the States.  I, being perpetually late to everything, got stuck in a seat that had virtually no cushion and was pretty much a metal rod.  Being by now accustomed to things being uncomfortable here, I sucked it up and was in pretty good spirits for the most part.  Being in good company is always a helpful thing when your butt feels like its falling off, and even when we got lost i was still pretty happy and excited for the trip.

Several hours later we arrive at the village where they made us quite possibly the best meal i have had thus far in China.  Home made food anywhere is always the best, and these people knew their stuff!  The meat dishes are always a bit odd, mainly because its seen as better to have more fat than meat on your meat, but the veggies and rice and such were really quite tasty.  After lunch we packed up our gear, got our sleeping bags and headed out. (right before leaving i was shocked and appalled at the treatment of a dog that, if we were in the States, would be highly illegal.  ill spare you the details, but if you really want to know message me on FB and we shall chat about it. )

So off we were on our first part of the hike which was...........through the jungle!  well probably not a legit jungle, but definitely more of a jungle then ive ever experienced.  At first I was pretty much in awe of how beautiful it all was.  Finally getting into the spirit of hiking (im not much for bugs or sleeping on the ground) I was simply amazed at the lushness of the scenery and the lovely things God gives us to appreciate.

Enter the bugs.

Now anyone who knows me even a little bit knows I am absolutely terrified of spiders.  Its slightly more than slightly embarrassing.  Ask my brother how many times hes been woken up from a deep sleep to my desperate pleas for him to save my life from the blood sucking fiends.  No, i dont think this is at all over dramatic, I really am that scared of them.  Well, not only were there spiders everywhere (which by the grace of God i did not see) there were mass quantities of mosquitos and horse flies.  Horse flies, for those of you that dont know......have a painful bite that leaves blood trickling down your leg.  YES!  We were oh so excited.  Needless to say my awe at natures beauty quickly turned into audible prayers to Jesus asking him to save me from the swarms of stingers.  Again i am not exaggerating, as some fellow hikers can attest to.  Besides its important to rely on Christ in all things, big or small.

By the time we get to the wall most of us were scraped up from barbed foliage and half eaten by bugs.  At this point i was ready for the helicopter to come and get me.  No such luck.  Now begins our hike on the wall, which although scary at some points, turned out to be a blast.

At first because we were still pretty much in the forest the bugs were out of control and, having my sleeping bag in one hand and camera in the other i was having a few issues climbing the wall.  You see most of it is very, VERY steep.  Hands are needed at points to ensure climbing safety.  So i dont have too many pictures on my camera from this point because i was terrified and coudlnt be bothered to capture it on film.  Once we got on a bit farther however things got less scary and i was again able to enjoy the whole experience.

When we got to our campsite, which was an old watch tower, I got a chance to relax and headed into a wooded area to do my devotions on the wall.  THIS WAS THE BEST PART!  Devotions are my favorite part of my day in general, but there is something amazing that happens when you hike up to the wilderness and sit in Gods creation to spend time with Him.  My attitude did a complete 180 and i really started to enjoy the trip.  Even the prospect of sleeping outside in a thunderstorm couldnt bring me down.

Our guide then brought us dinner....as in hiked up to the wall with a case of water and dinner for 20+ people strapped to his back!  He was amazing! I wasnt really hungry, but the food was good so i chowed down and went back to our tower.  Some of the boys spent the better part of the afternoon collecting fire so we could bonfire it up.  So we did, and spent a few hours talking and enjoying one anothers company.

That night i slept about an hour, which is to be expected when sleeping on the ground, but it wasnt too bad.  The next morning we were up bright and early and headed down to the village for breakfast.  Hiking down was pretty fun.  The trail was pretty close to Wildwood in T.O. so it was fairly easy and quick, plus Kit told us old fairytales the whole way down like the big kids we are =)

I know most of this seems like im just complaning....and well i guess I was, but the trip really was a great experience.  Bugs and bloody wounds aside (seriously people were bleeding)  the company was amazing, which really is why i went in the first place.

'Great' as it is, I think Im pretty much set on visits to the wall for a few years.  ;)

deceptively docile

and so it begins

starting to appreciate the beauty of it all

this picture is taken at head level.....

bug infested territory.  

started with my hair down...when it was soaked i put it up.

fully zoomed in.  they werent scared.

this wasnt even the steepest part!

you cant tell from this picture, but poor Emilies legs look like she got caught in barbed wire.  Steve (staff) wore long socks, clearly hes done this before.

our tower.  boys building the fire

where i slept

some of us lounging

food!

Selin and I 

"What do you like about china? Whats most shocking?"

bonfire

me at my best.  1 hour of sleep and no shower.  

really was quite beautiful

village

breakfast! (yes thats a corn chandelier)

Tata for now

    

Kinder Kiddies!

So last Tuesday some of us in the CSA program went to a local elementary school to play with the kids and help teach them english.  It was SO much fun!!  They kids for the most part were pretty enthusiastic and eager to learn through different games and such.  They even got excited about solving basic math problems with us, bilingually i might add!  Let me tell you i wish i was forced to learn a second language at that age, they pick up so quickly!  Some photos from the day.

the playground from the ally way

learning english for nose, eyes, ears etc.

some of us

were not chinese so we get stared at.  not exaggerating in the slightest, this is a normal occurrence.

passing out candy 'prizes'

this kid was in the middle of saying "wo you liang ge" or "i have two"

The rest of the pictures arent wanting to load so i will have to finish this one later.  Hopefully my internet access wont be so slow!

 nighty night

798

So sorry everyone for the super long absence!  last week was the last week of classes for round 1 and so has been happening that ive been just too tired to post an update.  So today is now the 17th of July and in the past two weeks i have been to the acrobat show, hiked the great wall and camped out in a guard tower, been to the art district, taught some kiddos english, learned entirely too much chinese to remember and basically had an overall enjoyable time!  This update is going to have to come in a few posts because there are far too many pictures to load up at once (it would take ages!)  So first is Qi Jiu Ba (798) art district.

Basically qi jiu ba is an old industrial park type of buildings that has now been converted to several (and i mean a bunch!) of different art exhibits.  There are indoor exhibits, and then there are seemingly random pieces all along the streets that go through.  This place is HUGE and there is something interesting to see everywhere you look!  There are also rows of restaurants that serve pretty decent western food, although its pretty pricey. Dangran! (of course)  We lucked out and got another clear day when we went, which is always nice even if it means its hotter.  Selin and I took a taxi to meet my friend Amir there and after lunch and a bit of wandering about we meet up and had a pretty enjoyable day.

tons of streets to choose from

Pegasus

hmmmmm

This guy claimed to be driving the real Bumble Bee.  i sincerely doubt that. He did however have some very real cameras and was a bit too close for comfort.

part of the old factory i guess.  really cool looking!

=)

this was pretty shocking to me.  i guess i just figured since talking about Christ isnt exactly legal...having an image of His sacrifice would be a bit taboo as well.

but then again the crucifixion was placed right next to this guy.....so well i dont really know what to think about that.

slightly more than slightly disturbing.

funny mirror

this was a legit art piece....i could have done that in about a min.  i dont get it...

none of these were translated right

this one was the least vulgar.

for Hayley =)

some crack at America im sure. 

this guy......

.....is scary!

also for Hayley!

100 yuan bills

child labor.

I didnt get any pictures of the exhibit that impacted me the most, and plus its not something i would want to look at again.  It was called "This Face" and was a few hundred pictures of one womans face from the moment she woke up, until she went to bed that night.  I know we all realize that the face is very expressive, but what i never thought about before, was how deeply you can really see someone by just capturing their face.  

This woman, i dont think we were told her name, is a prostitute here in Beijing.  This bit of information alone put the photos in a whole new light for me, not that i looked at her any differently, but that i could really see what she was thinking, when she numbed out, when she hid behind her "seductive" mask, when she fell apart at the end of the night, it was really amazing.  It was more than slightly uncomfortable to see, even though it was just close ups of her face, you could really tell when she had just been with a client and the toll it took on her emotionally.  

They also included her diary entry from the day the photos were taken.  I couldnt get through the whole thing because it was far to graphic for me, but the little bit i did read really made me count my blessings.  I thank God that i dont have to live that way.  

Qi Jiu Ba was definitely a thought provoking day Id say!  Definitely a place i would go to again seeing as how the exhibits change pretty frequently.  

cheers!