Disney at the Great Wall

It is cold in Beijing, -2c, which makes it somewhere in the twenties I guess, and the wind is extraordinary, really nasty and biting and whipping at you it seems from no particular direction like a thing just happy trying to get at you somehow. Anyway, Allie and I went to the Great Wall (at Badaling)this afternoon, hoping the wind would die down and the temps rise--to no avail, especially on the ridge of a mountain, standing on top of a thousand year old wall. You get there from the parking lot, after buying a ticket, in a single seat bright green or pink or blue amusement-park sort of contraption, cog driven, up the side of the mountain, completely exposed to the elements once you leave the tunnel, all hunkered down and praying the wind will let up. It doesn't. You jump off at the top, helped by the men in the Mao winter coats with the floppy hats, while the contraption moves on like a sky lift. We spent an hour and a half and it went by like ten minutes, the view so very breathtaking and the expanse so huge. We giggled against the wind, happy together, Allie bouncing to stay warm. Oddly, there is a camel on the top, a real two hump camel, pegged to the ground, with a freezing-to-death guy barking for customers to have their picture taken with the beast. The ride down is lead by one of the comrades, applying hard to the hand break. We could smell the burning break all the way down.
"You are not a lucky hero until you get to the wall." Chairman Mao

News from Beijing

Morning in Beijing. Coffee and the China Daily with the following posts:

As if knowing it is best to find a police officer in times of trouble, an exhausted wild goose landed on a patrol car in insane, leaning Province. Hearing a strange sound on the roof of their vehicle two officers stopped and got out to investigate. To their astonishment they discovered a large wild goose flapping atop their car. A vet later found it was suffering from cramp in the leg caused by fatigue after a long-haul migratory flight from the south.

And this one:

A laid-off couple in Chang have launched their own healthy environment drive. Intent on arousing public awareness of serious health hazards of spitting, the couple have invented a special paper package for wrapping phlegm, which they are offering free to citizens.

Jamaica 2005

Jan 31, 2005
Jamacia

Leaving and dealing with guilt. Shooting the wedding really doesn’t count, so consequently I shot nothing. Five days in Jamacia and the surf and my book (The Last Secret Place by Ian Baker) were too compelling. So the cameras stayed in the bag. I am a sorry excuse for a photographer.

Then as we left, the bus rolling south to the airport, the driver announced a rest stop. (I think the café and shop must have been owned by his cousin.) A few yards down the beach sat Steadman, father of seven, fisherman of many years who welcomed my camera and conversation. He rolled in his canoe, repairing his net. I told him how much I had enjoyed the Jamacians I ‘d met. He mumbled something I couldn’t understand. I pressed him, What? He said it again. Not like those people in Iraq, he muttered. They’re bad people. We are good people. He broke out in a toothless grin. I snapped the shutter. Then he poised for me, hand on his collar. He said he can’t remember his children’s names and that the fishing had been bad for a while. How long, I asked. A bit, he said. Fifteen years.

The bus honked for me. I stepped into the water and shook his hand. His fingers were stubby and weathered deeply. He touched his cap and I waved goodbye. Three shots to ausage the guilt. I am complete.

His portrait is in my People Gallery, Steadman.