Had a wonderful time yesterday, spent 5 hours trekking/climbing the great wall from Jianshanling to Simatai (about 10 km’s)… fabulous…. once I ‘lost’ the large group of ‘loud’ well meaning women in red T-shirts … ‘Doing the Challenge’ for medical research (with ‘porters’ to carry their bags, jackets, water, food?!!!!!) …. I really enjoyed myself… chatting to the local ‘farmers’ who now generate income from selling ‘drinks’ to the tourists (warm beer at 10am???) …. wandering along…. taking photos….
Those of you who know me well, know I am terrified of heights (have trouble on a step ladder)…. hate ‘going fast’ … hate ‘falling down’…. so you will understand how brave I was to ‘DECEND’ the wall via a ‘flying fox’….. approx 1km from the top of a mountain, over a transparent blue lake to a little boat which took me to my final destination… (my knees were literally shaking as I waited for my ‘turn’)….. and, it was OK….. I was really proud of myself…. besides I think I already had blisters on the soles of my feet and would have found the final steep decent via the stone steps ‘difficult”….
Bumped into a rather entrepreneurial friend who I met last year in Pingyao…. he, ‘Jack’ owns a string of youth hostels and restaurants (1 Pingyao, 2 Xi’an, 2 Beijing)… we were both standing in a Sinopetrolium service station in Miyun (sort of like meeting in a service station in Goulburn) serendipity… He is opening a new hostel, just off the main shopping mall in Beijing…. (I did some artwork for him in Pingyao) …. so he took me to dinner and we are meeting at the hostel this afternoon…. he is very keen to create a sophisticated ‘atmosphere’ and wants to use large prints of my images in the ‘fit out’….?! ….So that’s exciting…..
Oh, I have an exhibition of my work (as a part of a group show) next Tuesday evening at the Artist ‘Commune’ in BeiGao (Shangri-la)
Catherine Croll 