A Day at the Wall

I have always wanted to give my parents a nice vacation as a present. I didn't want it to be the kind where they come to my house and sit around. I envisioned it to be full of activities and discovery. I wanted them to completely disconnect from their daily life back in Ethiopia and experience something new.

This past weekend, we went to Dandong for an over night trip. We left early Saturday morning and returned late Sunday evening. The eastern most starting point of the Great Wall is located outside of Dandong.

As I climbed the Great Wall with my parents, I realized my wish of giving them a vacation to some exotic place has come true in a way I never thought it would.

After all, here we were, in China, on the Great Wall --- over a thousand five hundred years back in history.

Only my father made it to the end of the climb. My mother returned after a bit. I don't blame her. It was a hard hike.

At the end, we walked around the wall, with a great view of North Korea. It was fascinating to look into that hermit country. My dad took a picture standing on one side of the border fence and then the other very quickly. The side he is supposed to be at, of course, is on the side where Buchela and his father stand! (see pictures below).

The Buchela did very well on his father's back.

We finished up the day with a perfect meal at a ramshackle rural restaurant. We ate huge eggs whose bird source we still don't know. The egg shells were faint grey with a very light hint of blue. In addition, we had a delicious fish dish and some other stuff (donno what it was). We basically ordered what another table was having by pointing at their food.

We were lucky they had good taste!

(To see all the pictures, click on More)