What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Many a visitor to China would think The Great Wall was constructed solely on land to ward off the invaders from the north, but in actual fact The Great Wall extended its eastern reaches all the way into the sea. The front of the construction was named The Old Dragon Head (老龍頭) and this part of The Great Wall was used to protect China from pirates and enemies launching their raids from the eastern seas. We visited this unique spectacle on a lovely mild Summer day as we took the High Speed Rail from Tianjin to the famous Great Wall Fortress of Shan Hai Guan (山海關) in the Province of He Bei (河北). The Old Dragon Head lied about 4KM from the SHG train station and what a sight it was, to see the magnificent rampart extended its mighty head about 100 meters into the sea. Amazingly, all the brick and building materials remained intact with only minor later-day reinforcement since the structure was built in the Ming Dynasty ~600 years ago, now that's what's called great workmanship ! We took a much-needed lunch in a nearby village where we were served local vegetables cooked of course by the local village ladies. Energised with a full stomach, we soldiered on to visit SHG proper and paid a visit to the very informative Great Wall Museum before heading back to Tianjin after a fruitful day out.