Senior Moments

The Great Wall at Ba Da Ling, China. July, 1987.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

The Great Wall is one of the wonders of the world, but the mountains north of Beijing through which the wall passes are very scenic  in their own right.  The picture above, scanned from a slide taken in 1987, shows a part of the wall and the mountains.

Back in 1987 foreign visitors to the wall were still relatively rare.  Almost all of the people shown are Chinese, most of whom were on group tours.  The umbrellas were set up by vendors selling snacks or souvenirs.

The Great Wall at Badaling near Beijing. June, 1987.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Among the high points in my life have been my times teaching in China.  I taught in China on four different occasions.  I was over there for the first time in 1987 and first climbed the Great Wall in June of that year.

The picture above was taken at Badaling, the pass nearest Beijing with a gate in the wall.  You can see the gate in the center left of the picture (which can enlarged).  I climbed up to the third watch tower on one side of the pass, which is where I took the picture.  At that time there were many Chinese visiting the Wall, but very few foreigners.

Our guide said that anyone making it to that third tower would become a “Hero of the People’s Republic”.  I was the only member of our group that became a “Hero” that day.  My legs felt rubbery by the time I got back down, but the climb was definitely worth it.

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Today I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to visit some of the far corners of our world.