imisstony.com

It was a beautiful day on the Great Wall. Our group hiked the Jinshanling (Golden Mountain) section to our hostel in Simitai. It was a moderately tough hike of 10km (the wall is something like 6,000km long) where we got to see parts of the Great Wall that were recently restored to sections that have crumbled apart. Crossing through 32 towers, we encountered dozens of people trying to sell us ice-water, beer, colas, "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts, snakes, and centipedes. Oh, and one obnoxious tourist who decided urinating off of the edge of the Wall in front of everyone was somehow appropriate. (He sounded European)

At the end of our hike, we could either walk along the mountain to our hostel or take a zip-line down to the water and hop a boat. I shot that video with a different camera so I'll show it to you later. But it was fun. I seem to be pretty open to anything these days as long as it doesn't exhaust my wallet too much. Plus, I'm traveling with a bunch of people with positive spirits and a yearning for new experiences. There's always an element of 'when will I ever get to do this again?'


The subject of romantic love was on my mind much of the way up and down the wall (until that wonderful point of exhaustion where fantasies of hamburgers and ice cream take over). Actually the subject's been on my mind since Japan when I watched a TED lecture by Helen Fisher. It's a wonder how two people come together. It seems so random but rarely effortless. As much as I try to figure it out, playing with themes and situations in my stories, it never makes any sense. What's the formula? How much kismet, how much pursuit? It'll always fascinate me and unfortunately drive me passionately into right and wrong directions.

Tonight we're headed on an overnight train to Xian. Not sure when I'll get to chime in again but I'll be thinkin' about ya.

Labels: China, Videos