So, I owe everyone an apology...I posted all my pictures backwards, so you'll have to read from the bottom up. REgardless, we took out point-and-shoot camera to the basement of a local electronics mart and got it repaired, so it is temporarily up and running. It was just in time, as we had a long weekend. This past weekend was Tomb Sweeping Day in China--all the peeps try to return home and sweep/clean up the tombs of their ancestors. In reality, its a holiday to return to the country, get piss drunk, eat lots and try to make it to the tomb of grandparents. Anyways, this is the part where you have to work from the bottom up.
Our new friends:
The White Rive valley is beautiful.
Our new friend Dean had a pretty spectacular climb and we took some great pics with out new camera.
Here is our group, pictured from a bird's eye view.
Cliff is large and in charge.
The wall looks pretty intimidating from the bottom.
In the distance you can see a turret from the Great Wall--its quite sobering to be rock climbing in the shadow of the great wall. To think that so many Chinese gave their lives to defend this area so we can rock climb...
We took a couple of pics from the canyon the first day--the weather was perfect, about 75 degrees and sunny. We couldn't have asked for better weather.
It was a long way down.
Cliff was so happy to get his first climb of the season.
I'm pleased to say that our climbing companions were reallly great people. For a bunch of strangers we got along really well and had alot of laughs. In the foreground is William, who is holding our lunch for the day...oil cakes (like fried, think crepes) and boiled eggs. We were fed like construction workers.
Below are two pictures of the surrounding area, taken from the roof of the hostel.
This is the courtyard of our place...the layout is typical of traditional Chinese dwellings--a center courtyard surrounded by four walls that contain living quarters, eating areas and a kitchen.
We planned to stay a couple nights, so we got a place at a local hostel which is popular with rock climbers...the room was standard, but I wanted to show you the bathroom. This is a common squatter toilet...the ridged area for your feet is an exact science. I've stood a couple inches forward and back from the ridged area and it was disasterous. btw, not showed is the shower head sticking out of the wall...the toilet bowl is also the drain for the bathroom. Many places in Asia have this shower/toilet multipurpose room combination. Its pretty gross, but something you get used to.
Even after we got in the bus station, we had to join a snake line and rush the bus as it pulled up...one more great experience from China.
Since it was the holiday weekend, it seemed like all 17mil residents of Beijing were trying to leave at once. We planned to take a bus to MiYun County, which is only about 1.5 hours out of town...when we got to the bus station at 6pm, the line was out the bus station, down the block and around the corner. It was crazy.
Our new friends:
The White Rive valley is beautiful.
Our new friend Dean had a pretty spectacular climb and we took some great pics with out new camera.
Here is our group, pictured from a bird's eye view.
Cliff is large and in charge.
The wall looks pretty intimidating from the bottom.
In the distance you can see a turret from the Great Wall--its quite sobering to be rock climbing in the shadow of the great wall. To think that so many Chinese gave their lives to defend this area so we can rock climb...
We took a couple of pics from the canyon the first day--the weather was perfect, about 75 degrees and sunny. We couldn't have asked for better weather.
It was a long way down.
Cliff was so happy to get his first climb of the season.
I'm pleased to say that our climbing companions were reallly great people. For a bunch of strangers we got along really well and had alot of laughs. In the foreground is William, who is holding our lunch for the day...oil cakes (like fried, think crepes) and boiled eggs. We were fed like construction workers.
Below are two pictures of the surrounding area, taken from the roof of the hostel.
This is the courtyard of our place...the layout is typical of traditional Chinese dwellings--a center courtyard surrounded by four walls that contain living quarters, eating areas and a kitchen.
We planned to stay a couple nights, so we got a place at a local hostel which is popular with rock climbers...the room was standard, but I wanted to show you the bathroom. This is a common squatter toilet...the ridged area for your feet is an exact science. I've stood a couple inches forward and back from the ridged area and it was disasterous. btw, not showed is the shower head sticking out of the wall...the toilet bowl is also the drain for the bathroom. Many places in Asia have this shower/toilet multipurpose room combination. Its pretty gross, but something you get used to.
Even after we got in the bus station, we had to join a snake line and rush the bus as it pulled up...one more great experience from China.
Since it was the holiday weekend, it seemed like all 17mil residents of Beijing were trying to leave at once. We planned to take a bus to MiYun County, which is only about 1.5 hours out of town...when we got to the bus station at 6pm, the line was out the bus station, down the block and around the corner. It was crazy.
