Walking the Wall

Emma rambling along the Helan Shan

Well, we finally made it through Ningxia a few weeks ago, which means it’s time once again for some ramblings. (For those of you new to the blog, or if you just can’t remember WAAAY back to Gansu: When we reach the end of each province/autonomous region, we do a little post filled with odds and ends that didn’t fit anywhere else.)

Is it possible to ramble underwater?

The trip through Ningxia was a ramble in the truest sense of the word. To protect Brendan’s foot from re-injury, we limited our daily distance to 15-20 kilometres maximum, and we frequently took days off as well. It took us nearly two months (34 days of actual walking) to cover Ningxia’s 515 kilometres.

But cover it we did, rambling over mountains and across the plains, through snow and sunshine, past piggeries and mangers.

Sunset along the Helan Shan

The wall stretching out over the Ningxia plain

The monochrome wall

Sparrows scattering across a sunny winter sky

The brown mound of dirt behind this piggery is the Great Wall of China

It’s common to see mangers and miscellaneous farm buildings built adjacent to the wall

Every kilometre or two along the arc between Zhongwei and Yinchuan, we would come across an interesting, and usually old, temple. We don’t know why this area was so rich in temples – one Beijing friend speculated that somehow this bit of China might have been spared the rampant vandalism of religious sites that accompanied the Cultural Revolution.

The bell at Long guan temple near Zhongwei

A small roadside temple near Shikong

The East Pagoda at Baisikou

The thing that will always stick with us about Ningxia actually has a lot more to do with the time of year than the place – it was freezing. When we returned to hiking on November 11, there were still leaves on the trees and we enjoyed two weeks of Indian summer, but on November 24 it turned cold and snowed, and we didn’t have a warm day again in Ningxia.

Emma blowing even more smoke than usual

Apart from the obvious changes in comfort level and routine that we’ve already written about, winter also brought about a change in our social schedule – we didn’t have much of one. In summer people were out and about from sunup to sundown, and they’d often rush up to greet us and ask questions. In winter, people tend to stay inside, probably flipping through the fifty-odd channels even the most remote villages somehow get; and when we do meet them, they’re often more subdued.

There are exceptions, of course.

RECESS!!!! Tug-of-war, boys v. girls!

Actually, it was lunch hour – but why worry about such fine distinctions when there’s rope to be skipped?

These two have put away such childish things

Zai jian!