We went to a sleepy village, having heard about how busy the wall’s most popular parts can get, and weren’t one bit disappointed 😉 As you can see from the landscape and judging by how much of the wall is still crumbling, going to Zhuangdaokou means a chance to explore the wild wall, feel the sun on your face, and breath fresh air once again.

Before rumbling into the village, we did need to endure 4 hours of riding sardine-style on country buses; although luckily it wasn’t too long before we were saved from unfortunate places squashed against the windscreen, when the driver decided Endre was too tall and he couldn’t see!

Another photo is of the lady chopping veg in the courtyard where we were staying. It had a lovely shady tree in the middle of the low wooden buildings, and red lanterns bobbing over the gate. We sat…