Jeff gives us highlights of his trip to China, with three friends, to run a marathon along the Great Wall, enjoy:

Great Wall Marathon Tour

So Jeff, I wasn't clear - is it a full marathon (26.2 miles)? Did you all run it? Any pictures?

The race is divided into four parts (like many, but not all Marathons): full Marathon, half Marathon, a 10K and a 5K. This maximizes particpation in the event thus insuring more tourists for the city of Beijing! In this case, no one is allowed to participate (even spectators like me have to be with a tour)except through an "authorized" tour company - again insuring full tour buses pulling into tourist sites, many with showrooms and all with street hawkers.

Only my friend Nick actually ran the race on Saturday, but all four of us "did the wall" on Thursday, orientation day.

Pictures will be coming, but I lost my little wire to get 'em outta my camera and onto my PC, so it'll take some time.

quote:

Pictures will be coming, but I lost my little wire to get 'em outta my camera and onto my PC, so it'll take some time.

Jeff, just on this front, Chris bought a card reader when he got his camera (not that brand) but still - it eliminated one more little wire we need to keep track of. Just something to consider.

Thx, I used to have one of those, too...but I lost it, as well. This whole miniaturization phenom that's been going on for 50 years, sure keeps the electronics business cooking...in my case anyway!

Our Beijing, Great Wall and Hong Kong Picassa Album:China 09 Trip

You may need Picassa from Google to see it...dunno...

Nope. I can see if fine. Thanks for posting the fun pictures, video and trip report.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, Jeff. What an amazing story that you got your wallet back!

Beautiful photos, too.

Very interestinbg observations.

I too had lost - and found - things in a taxi in HK. -- Not even in a taxi. It was in a taxi stand on a street.
I was travelling with 2 very gentlemanly friends, who grabbed my luggage to carry at every chance.
Except that there was one bag that everyone thought someone else was grabbing…
The Bag was left on a cart in a taxi stand at the new airport.
I only realized when I was arriving at my hotel (the Pen; I was not paying for it; the trip was "au frais de la princesse").
The hotel told me that its "people" would contact the "airport people" to find the bag.
In truth my hopes were not high.
But the next morning I found on my voice mail a message from the hotel manager that the bag had arrived and the bellhop was waiting for me to call to say I was awake, and he would deliver it immediately.

But their honesty issue aside, - and honesty is huge, - I agree with Jeff that the taxis in both Beijing and HK are very inexpensive and efficient.

Lastly, I wonder what happened to the vendor who went amok.
I have noticed a few times that the migrant workers seem to skip a fews steps in their anger management process. They could be smiling and soft-spoken for a long time, - but alas a smile in Asia could mean many things and is not always a reflection of friendliness, - and then suddenly skips a few grades and graduates into violent rage.
I don't mean to express prejudice about the migrant workers. I think - since I speak two of the major dialects, Mandarin and Cantonese, but often don't understand a thing, not even yes or no, about the migrants' original dialects - it is easy for us to misread the their body language or language-language.
But, yikes, if I had been there, I would have run the other way; don't count on me to translate for violent people. I do wonder what happened, since it is a huuuuuge cultural deal major face loss - for a Chinese person to lose self-control.

Regarding the "incident." The person in question was last seen by yours truly being yelled at by a host of other hawkers (part of his group?). It appeared that, as Americana in Parigi said, he was being reprimanded for his behavior by others nearby, who had witnessed it. The whole thing was unfortunate, but every culture has its small minority who spoil it for the rest. I could have simply run away, but a woman was being assaulted by a man...not in my make up to leave the scene under the circumstances regardless of culture, values, norms, etc..

It did not spoil the trip!

Jeff,
I did not mean to justify the violent outburst.
I just wondered about the missing half of the dialogue, but you were right to react immediately when a man is violent to a woman, dialogue shmialogue.
I said I would have run the other way, - out of a decidedly non-heroic reflex, - but once in another country when I saw a man who hit a woman (in front of a terrified boy, their child?), I, speaking that language badly, told the man I would call the police immediately. The man turned around to threaten me…
Again, you were right to react, and are gracious not to let it ruin your trip.