Yup, it's a Great Wall, alright....

[HEyHEY]

Huge bastard of a wall. I spent four hours hiking about 12 kilometers on the Great Wall of China yesterday, it was more than 30 degrees out too. We went to the part of the wall that isn't all fixed up nice and proper so it can be fairly dangerous in some spots and you really need to watch where you step. All along it and at every tower there's someone trying to sell you water. One even tried to sell me a pack of smokes.... who the fuck is buying smokes up there?

Amazing scenery though, I'll have pics once my friend sends them.

[Chan790]

1. Good to hear you're enjoying China.

I'm not surprised to hear about the cigarettes though...I've been told that smoking and bicycling are the Chinese national pastimes.

[HEyHEY]

2. They smoke everywhere

it's awful.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. And dyeing their hair black .............

It's the second biggest cause of cancer in China...............

[Critters2]

8. Series?

:wtf:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. Yeah -

that's been true for a long, long time. I first went to China in 1982, and that was when I first heard it.

Lymphoma, and a kind of leukemia most usually associated with dark hair dyes. Killer chemicals.

Think about it - how often do you see any Chinese nationals with gray hair? Even the really old ones?

You don't..............

[Enrique]

3. why wouldn't one smoke on the Great Wall of China?

is it flammable?

[HEyHEY]

4. Cause it's a HARD hike, man.

Some of the inclines are like 60 degrees and go for about nine stories.... then you get to the top, walk DOWN for about three stories, then up another four... you get the idea.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. My favorite thing to do

at the Great Wall was to write out postcards for people back home with the notation - "It's not THAT great ........."

[HEyHEY]

7. Really? Looking at it heading off into the distance, I thought it was amazing.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. I was JOKING!

It's an impossible thing to comprehend, even while you're standing on it. It just doesn't compute..............

[HEyHEY]

11. Oh, he he, I'm so used to forgeiners and their anti-china backlash

That whenever I hear someone slam china I assume they mean it. After living here, the day to day bullshit gets to be a lot, so westerners tend to knock everything about the place.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

12. The Ugly Americans ........

I know. I know exactly what you're talking about. Makes you cringe, doesn't it, the way they behave.

I've encountered this crap here in the US. Ugly Americans calling the Native Americans selling their wares in the Plaza at Santa Fe ugly names and in loud voices. Their own countrymen.

It was a joke. Feeble, yes, but, hey, I used to send postcards of the Pope from the Vatican with the notation, "GUESS WHO I PICKED UP LAST NIGHT?"

[HEyHEY]

14. Yeah, the sense of entitlement is the one that gets me

it's fucking frustrating as hell. The way some of them speak to the locals is just indefensible too. When I first arrived, my american roomate and I had a spot of trouble with a cabbie.... he took us to a station that sounded alot like the one we wanted. My roomie insisted it was a scam and got into a yelling match. It was a big pain in the ass.

Since then it's almost happened three times. So, obviosuly it's a common mistake and the guy was being honest. BUt my roomie didn't even want to entertain the idea.

[flvegan]

13. That's quite a hike.

I'd like to visit there one day. Glad you're enjoying China.

[HEyHEY]

15. You'd like it... just don't hit the toursit wall.

I haven't been but I can imagine it is horrid. The section I was at had pieces of it that were so dangerous we had to detour, it's the real deal.