Silk Road Suzie: The Great Wall - on the other side there are barbarians!

So we became civilised at last because we entered China to the south of the Great Wall - not north where the barbarians lived! The diary for 2nd June reads "Made our way to Jiayuguan to the Great Wall - kept seeing odd bits of the Great Wall but in sad state of repair........" It was indeed strange to see great lumps sticking out of the sandy, desolate landscape." Continuing ".... Arrived at a campsite Chinese style with a lake & camp places under trees. ..... Left & walked up wall ..... - still quite hot but got as far as the first milecastle. Then down to cook." From my reference to a "milecastle" I was obviously thinking of that other "Great Wall" namely Hadrian's Wall running from the Tyne to the Solway Firth in England. A mere 73 miles (120 km) to the 5,500 miles (8,852 km) of the Great Wall but in its own way an impressive structure and well worth a visit. And here are some photos of the extreme western end of the Great Wall.

A rather "pink" Suzie - Great Wall first timer.....................

The rugged countryside around Jiayuguan and the first pagoda .............

scaling cliffs, rounding escarpments and above all sharp, steep climbing ............

... the Great Wall snakes its way across the landscape .............

........of China.

Barbarians live to the left but to the right is safe ............

"3rd June Visit to the fort at Jiayuguan - Last/first fort on the Great Wall. Most westerly point. Very well preserved and restored. Wax figures in the Governor's Quarters very well done...... The decorations on the wooden structures are so beautiful and detailed. Even bits that would not normally be exposed were decorated. Spent a long time wandering before moving to the excellent museum. Very clear and well laid out. Lovely interaction with a couple of elderly men. 1 outside the museum when I sat down in the shade & said "ni how" said it back to me and such a lovely smile. Next was when I was looking at an audio visual presentation - all through sign & gesture another elderly man asked if I could understand the English legends accompanying the display." I experienced some degree of "culture shock" at Jiayuguan as it was the first place that we had come across a serious amount of tourists. The guides with their megaphones and flags on sticks making sure that the stragglers were included. Having been a "tourist" for so many weeks it was interesting to observe other tourists and the tourist behaviours! Jiayuguan was very photogenic and here are some of the results.

Jiayuguan - the first or last fort on the Great Wall

First exposure to tourists for some time.

Detailed decorations everywhere

and every available surface patterned

with protection from the "evil eye" a motif that was to be seen from Turkey to China

and beautifully carved fretwork too.

An elegant watch tower

and local legends to read.

Anywhere else these representations could have been "naff"

but not only were they lifelike but each one told a story.

The Governor and his plan their defence of the fort

and how to keep the barbarians at bay.

The servant wiles away his time waiting and dreaming

of going back home, many thousands of miles away.

The tired soldier sleeps on his kang.

The maid helps the Governor's Lady decide which earring.

While a kitchen maid prepares some pancakes.

And the cook lights the oven.

So that these traders from Kashgar, or maybe far beyond,
can be offered hospitality as honoured guests.

Going round the museum of all the amazing, incredible, intricate and beautiful things that I saw in China I saw the one thing that I would have put in my bag and taken with me. This pottery horse moved me beyond belief. The simplicity of it and the way that it moves and even though its tail is no longer there you can see it swish as the horse moves with such confidence in its own beauty. My diary notes read: "........ Then there was the the Tang horse - I could not read the label but it looked like a Tang horse. It is in a case on its own- No taller than 18-20 inches but a prancing horse- the glaze has come away on most of it & it has lost its horse hair tail but it was so beautiful - There were so many interesting things in that room but I kept coming back to the horse. Of all the things in the museum & there were many - that was the one that did it for me."

Strong, proud and..............

......... even after these hundreds of years, still curious!

But no-one will ever ride this horse ............

unless it gives permission.

After the museum and my delight with the horse K &S and I went to find something to eat. The diary entry for this memorable meal reads "Delightful lunch with K&S. We found a small restaurant & took pot luck & pot luck was delicious. Cold noodles (ordered) [though it has to be admitted by mistake] eggplant/aubergine & potato became aubergine and chillies! Egg & tomato (ordered) bean curd (ordered) chicken & cashew morphed into kidney beans & corn (delicious). This entry is a good example of how the food sheet works. You might not quite get what you ordered but the substitutes are quite delicious. They looked after us so well at the restaurant and for me the meal was all the more memorable for drinking some of the best green tea I had in the whole of China. I don't know what it was with that tea but I still remember how much I liked it.

When we got back to the campsite later on I took myself up the wall in the gloaming, imagining how it was when it was regularly patrolled by soldiers. Sentries standing in the milecastles looking out over the expanses of sandy waste or starting at a movement in the nearby hills. I write "I went up the wall (apparently the campsite owners had restored the Wall & the fort/garrison next to the campsite at their own expense) & got to the second milecastle in the dusk. Lovely to spend some short though quality time on my own - No one else up there - Looked across the hills to the city & down into China - away from the Mongols, Huns & other marauders - safe behind the wall. There is a complete contrast with the folds of hills with pagodas & a temple (just inside the wall) & Jiayuguan town - heavily industrial and heavily polluted. Back to camp & stb"