The Great Wall--Simati

The Great Wall At Simati
The portion of the Great Wall at Simati is beyond belief. It is, as they say, "treachrous." The Moms were incredible simply making it to the portion of the Great Wall not meant "for the faint hearted."

Our adventure to Simati started on Wednesday, 17 October 2006 with a near three hour drive from Beijing followed by a 2 kilometer Gondola ride and a train car ride that climbs about another 300 feet. Depending on which Tower one chooses to start out at there are two trails. The trail to the left goes to Tower 5, the right climbs to Tower 8. (read photo descriptions at the end.) This post is late as we were a bit too tired to do so upon our return.

Just as we approached the fork in the trail to the different towers, we were approached by some local "farmer" ladys. They were very kind to help Hilde make it along the relatively flat, sometimes loose-rock-slippery trail to the landing near Tower 5. Hilde and Mike stayed for a time near Tower 5. Back at the trail fork, Ingrid, Cory and Jamie ventured up to Tower 8.

Leaving his Mom in the able care of the Ladys, Mike climbed up to Tower 8 to meet the others. (He must be getting old for all the huffing and puffing that could be heard echoing off the mountainsides that or it's the altitude.) Once at Tower 8 we took a round of pictures. Mike and Ingrid returned to Hilde, while Cory and Jamie climbed even further, all the way up to Tower 12.


Once we were ready to set back down the mountain, the Ladys brought out their wares at very expensive prices relative to what was for sale below. Mike dubbed the Ladys the "Boo-Yah" Ladys. Although not the correct spelling for the word but in Chinese Boo-Yah means "go away." Didn't seem to work well. Could it perhaps be the Idaho or Canadian accent that makes our Chinese ineffectual?


Somehow we neglected to take a full-on group photo at the top. Regardless, the variety of pics here really illustrates the magnificence of this poriton of the Wall. The first group picture shows us at the start near the two person Gondolas and the Lift Train. Tower five is the lowest visible tower. Tower 8 lies just before the ridge droops down and back up to T9. If we've counted correctly T10 & T11 can't be seen but Tower 12 is faintly visible on the far right.

Mike and Hilde are shown with Tower 6 up above their backs. Turning the camera around to catch Ingrid shows Tower 5 behind her back with more of the wall meandering on her left side. Cory and Jamie are precariously pictured atop Tower 12 with Upper Mongolia in the background.