Today I reached the place where The Great Wall is meeting the sea. They call it “Old Dragon’s Head”. In their imagination enormous dragon (Great Wall) sneaking through China has his head in Laolongtou on the coast of the Yellow Sea – sipping there the water.
Actually in Laolongtou I found the stronghold with towers, extended 22 meters into the sea. In the first tower, built and painted in traditional style I found… the statue of chairman Mao. The second, stone tower is empty. With white beach around this stronghold is very picturesque place. But some 200 m away they built another attraction – the colorful temple of Sea Goddess. Both are included in the 60 yuan ticket… They know how to milk the tourist!
The first and very solid gate in the Wall was some 5 kms away – in Shanghaiguan – this is now UNESCO World Heritage Site. From this place I was walking another 4 kms to Jiao Shan – the restored part of the Great Wall. With 30 Y ticket you can climb here the wall to the little castle on the mountain ridge. Good exercise, believe me! This was my third time on the Great Wall but it still impress me – they did enormous work!
