The Great Wall of China -- Jishanling

First stop in China, after a day of running errands (getting new SIM card, replacing my falling apart backpack, getting taken out to dinner by my new director and eating my way through the street food vendors of my neighborhood) was to see the Great Wall of China.  Near Beijing, there are four of five places to go.  Most of you have seen pictures of Badaling, which is the closest, but also the one with the most tourists.  D and I chose to head out to Hebei Province to Jishanling, which is actually a national park.  You'll see in the photos that in some places the wall is in a state of disrepair (what does one expect after 600-700 years of exposure to the elements) but in other places it has been renovated quite nicely.  We hiked about 10.5 km of the wall in about 5 hours, taking our time, taking lots of pictures and even throwing the frisbee around on the wall itself.  The weather was gorgeous and as you'll see, we essentially had the wall to ourselves.  Already, an early highlight of my Beijing life.