On our hike today we had to start a few kilometers west of the outskirts of Yang Gao, the town in which we were given the boot.  Yang Gao sits 1k off the main road, and as we neared it, we finally figured out what they were hiding from the lao wei.  Risking life, limb, and the possibility of being force-fed rice wine and chicken heads until confessing, I pulled out my camera and snapped the photo below. 

As you can see, the hideous, multi-colored building in the distance is obviously the Great Clown Paraphanalia factory.  I have to say I can’t blame ‘em for wanting to hide that.

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When William Lindesay did this trek back in the ’80′s, the Gong An Ju, or police, were something to fear; he was repeatedly detained and thrown outta places.  Just the other day I wrote in my journal how much easier we have it.  Not only do the police often honk and wave at us, but on several occassions they’ve even offered us rides.

It wasn’t until last night that we had a run-in with the gong an ju.  We’d hiked over twenty kilometers outta Datong before catching a bus ahead to Yang Gao; we’ll be doing this a lot now since we ditched our tents.  Once in Yang Gao, we were turned away at two bing guans, and even the taxi drivers were acting sketchy.

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It’s just come to my attention that I won’t be the first woman to walk the length of the Wall, but probably the 2nd.  A link provided in a comment (thanks, Cath!) led me to find Gayle Hall, an American woman who completed the journey in 2002 with 2 Chinese companions.  Dissapointing, but not the end of the world.

There’s a couple (an Australian woman and American man) who started their journey within FIVE days of us!  Here’s the link.  I’m w-a-y jealous of their camera and photography skills!

So, erhm, I’ll be the first woman to complete it without 2 Chinese companions!  ;~)

Alright, I’ve finally caught up on uploading all my recent photos.  The new photo page is on the right under “Random Photos, Pianguan To Ping Lu”.  Ping Lu is otherwise known as Tiki Torch/Robot With A Toupee Town.

And really, today we’re heading out for Zhangjiakou!  In about ten days we’ll hike Badaling, the most famous bit of the Wall, and then we’ll pop down to Beijing for 2 days for a little R&R.  After that, we’re estimating it’ll be around 3 weeks until we see the end at Shanhaiguan on the Bo Hai sea…wow…

Really, The Ig and I desperately need someone to pop on over to chaperone us.  Although we were all packed up and ready to leave yesterday, we again decided that it would be in our best interest to go and see the grottoes at Yun Gang, a world heritage sight. 

Nevermind that we knowingly strolled right past them to get here or that we pissed away four days just laying around eating junk food; when it was time to leave we suddenly realized we must have a “culture” day.   

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Tommorrow morning we set off for our next checkpoint city, Zhangjiakou.  I can hardly believe we’re this far into the trek, but in a little over a month I’ll be able to finally proclaim my hard-earned title as the first woman on planet Earth to hike from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan following the Wall.

Whoah!

And what a great time it was.

With 15k left before Ig and I were “officially” in Datong, we went out yesterday and finished up our hike. We’d decided we were gonna picnic with some of the junk food that was sent, and before hitting the road we hit the market and found a bottle of Great Wall chardonnay.

The first picnic spot we found was perfect; a few trees in a grassy area across a stream.
(Rob and Marsh; photo shows the rickety bridge and nice grassy area with a few trees across the stream.)

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‘Twas the night before International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and all through the dark, dank, musty-ass bing guan, every creature was stirring, especially the prostitutes in the hall talking to Chan, Dick and Juan.

I was trying to slumber when from across the room came such a clatter, a deep gravelly voice speaking piratey chatter.

“Ye taxi driver!  Might ye be knowin’ whar the wung ba is?  And, dor shaow chyen?”

“Shut up!” I laughed.  “Get some sleep and save it for tommorrow.”

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The poor bootsnall guyz have a nightmare to deal with; if you haven’t noticed, the last post on the site is from August.  Their server crashed, and so far they’ve only been able to retrieve prior to then.

The crash must’ve also messed up my storage capacity, as it now says I’ve used all available photo storage space and therefore still can’t upload new pics for yas.

Give it a little time, and hopefully this’ll all get worked out.

Until I can post with pics, I’ll just tell ya we’re “unofficially” in Datong; slogged nearly 35k yesterday and made it to within 15k, caught a bus in, and will go back out tommorrow for a cheesecake day back in.

Speaking of cheese; not only did we obtain a cheezy poof coma last night, but with all the schtuff sent, we’ll definitely be in one for the next four days!  Will report on that when I can get photos up!