day 252: [嘉峪关 - (jiayuguan)] = 0km

It’s slow, it’s tiresome, and it doesn’t even pay any money - walking is often overrated.

But what else could I do?

Maybe I should have chosen a career in steel production:

But since I couldn’t handle the heavy drinking during the breaks…

…and also because I was only willing to accept a position where I could boss everyone else around…

…I just wasn’t too fit for the job.

Besides, I don’t know anything about physics/chemistry/steel/production/work in general.

…

So I did what I had been doing for the last eight months - sightseeing:

This is a temple within the grounds of the famous 悬壁长城 (the Hanging Great Wall) northwest of the city:

I still don’t really understand why this is referred to as a “hanging” wall:

It didn’t seem to be hanging at all.

In fact, it rather looked a lot like the Great Wall in the eastern parts of the country (December 12th 2007).

Also, I figured that this particular section must have undergone some heavy remodeling during the past few decades:

It just seemed too different from the rest of the Wall in the area:

Today, we walked all the way to the Fort from the north - the opposite direction as two days before (July 15th 2008):

We kept on one side of the Wall until we almost ran into an army camp, complete with trucks and tanks and everything.

So we had to turn back and make a detour around, since we didn’t want to get into any trouble.

Besides this little incident, walking along the Wall was very nice:

What must Marco Polo have felt when he passed through here? I wondered, but then it dawned on me: the great caravans of the Silk Road never set eyes on these fortifications! The wall in its present form was constructed during the Ming-dynasty (明 1368-1644), when the first naval connections had already been established between Europe and China.

I’ve also been thinking: it must have been mainly these two factors - the discovery of the naval routes and the isolationism of the Chinese empire during the Ming-dynasty - that eventually led to the economic decline of these Western Territories - areas that once used to be so full of splendor and have now fallen way behind the booming urbanism of the east coast.

…

There is this massive and beautiful 嘉峪关城楼 (Jiayuguan Fort), erected some time around 1372 to seal off the 河西走廊 (hexi corridor) to the west:

Was it eventually just another nail in the coffin of the Western Territories?

…

We got there at seven, and there was virtually nobody around anymore:

I really wondered why they even sold us tickets, since the staff had already gone home:

It was very nice though; no tourists in hideous outdoor wear (guy in blue, girl in red) to spoil our pictures!

We just strolled around and enjoyed the beautiful sunset:

At some point a dude appeared and called us out:

So we slowly went to the exit - while taking our time, and more pictures on the way:

It felt good sharing these beautiful moments with my little brother.

Robozwerg says:

“I’ve seen better.”

Soundtrack: Shadows Fall - “Thoughts Without Words”

—total: 3286,2km