The circus at the end of The Great Wall

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After the hellish trip to Jiayuguan we were excited to head out to the fort, it's most significant attraction. The fort was the final fortress of the Great Wall and serves a significant role in Chinese history as the 'final frontier' of imperial China. It was said that beyond which lay only barbarians and was used as the gates through which exiles and enemies were banished to fend for themselves in the harsh deserts beyond. Wedged between the 'Black Horse Mane' mountains on one side and the permanently snow capped Qilin Mountains on the other, we were beyond excited to visit a place so remote yet so incredible, 5000km from the wall's starting point near North Korea.

After buying some very expensive entrance tickets we decided it would be nice to hire bicycles and ride along the wall between the different gates. We took off on our really uncomfortable Chinese bikes only to stopped at a security gate no more than 500m down the path and had to leave the bikes behind...lucky we only paid $1.50!

Upon entering at first it seemed kind of desolate but also obviously re-constructed, after the first bend however we realised this peaceful lonely fort was no longer. We were greeted by a circus like sight of magicians, mouse houses, archery stands, cannon firing, quad bikes, drum beating, costume dress ups and anything else you could possibly waste money on. The view from the top of the fort was still pretty incredible but the overall experience disappointing.

Later that night we headed to the local market where despite the bleakness of the town the people were very friendly and the food delicious. After a little wander we headed back to our hotel which happened to be opposite a large public park. It was close to 10pm by this time yet the park had come alive with kids and toddlers learning to roller blade, friends hanging out on the grass, grannies watching their soaps on the big screen and families sharing their sticks of fairy floss. The strangest thing about this park was the neon....every tree was completely lit up and at the far end stood a giant scaffold structure of a dolphin balancing a ball on its nose entirely covered in flashing neon. We had been staring at this structure from our window during the day but it wasn't until it was lit up that we realised it was a dolphin in the middle of the desert!

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