Day 24 - The Great Wall and Ghost Village of Chadao

After some problems (or not as my Chinese is very limited) with the trains, I had to take the bus to get to Badaling and see the Great Wall today. Taking the 878 or 919 bus is not a big deal however as they are actually faster than the train, depart almost every minute in busy periods (like today) and drop you off only a few hundred meters from the entrance vs the 800m the train station is located from the entrance.

You might now wonder why I chose the most touristy of places to go and see the Great Wall? Well, first it's the easiest to get to from Bejing and second I have been to a different part last time so decided to just give it a try. I mean how bad can it be?

Despite what everybody says, going to Badaling is not all that bad but you have to stay away from the section the crowds frequent. So if you go in through the 'climbing' entrance (and you want to be climbing) head to the south section. Not only will all the crowds be headed to the north section but you also get the nicer views of the north section and landscape around.

The south section is shorter to walk though and less steep overall so you might still want to brave the crowds for the busiest part in case you are done quite fast and want to do more hiking. I have done both and while I liked the south section, I did not like the north section at all and wished that I would have just gone back an forth in the south section.

Once I was satisfied of having seen and climbed the Great Wall enough this time round, I decided to head to the train station and take the train back. It's always fun to take two different modes of transport and find out which is nicer or better.

Since I had some time till the train departed and I saw a sign for the Folk Village of Chadao near the train station, I figured I go and check it out to help pass the time.

Well, what should have been a quick 10-20 minutes wandering around took me almost 2h of walking around and I wished I could have spend the whole day here. What I saw was not a 'Folk Village' or 'Historic Village' but a ghost village, full of deserted and overgrown houses, a mostly empty main street, dusty windows, faded paint and almost no people at all.

It was again a mostly bizarre setting but such a cool one that I forgot everything and just went along taking pictures. I loved it and in some ways was glad not having it seen earlier of the Great Wall visit would not have happened.

There are newly build houses, with electrical switchboards, the piping is laid out, even AC units are installed but everything is empty, unfinished and from the looks abandoned.

Maybe it was a project to attract tourists but as it did not happen as planned, it now just lays to waste. There are people around from what I have seen and most were amused and surprised by me wandering around with a big smile on my face taking pictures of abandoned houses.

So here another one of my tips. If you visit the Great Wall, don't be afraid to go to Badaling (but take the bus or train and save the money for a tour) and climb the south section. On your way back however do make sure you go and visit Chadao Village, you won't regret it and don't be afraid to just wader as nobody will stop you.

Tomorrow, I will have to get myself a ticket to Xi'an and try to squeeze a visit to the Temples of Heaven and Earth before taking the train.

No Updates?

I know, there have not been any updates in a while but I needed a break and was not very inspired or motivated to post recently. 

This does not mean that I did not take pictures, so I decided to post a series of some of my favorite pictures I took over the last weeks.

From tomorrow everything will be back to normal and move back here. I simply can't stand the advertising and 'Related Posts' on Wordpress. The limit of only one picture is ok on most days but not always practical so this theme gives me more freedom.

Nobody Around

GF1, f5, 1/20, ISO 400, JPG, 40mm

Staircase

GRD, f2.4, 1/45, ISO 400, JPG

When you get out of Old Street station you can't help but feel you're in a derelict building. The whole underpass leading out of the station is a dump and you have to wonder why it has not been demolished a long time ago.

Burnt Out

I posted quite a few series recently so my motto of 'One Day. One Picture.' did not quite apply. But sometimes it is necessary to show a series of 5 pictures to give a better feel to a place or theme.

I took the pictures today in a burnt out building nearby with the Panasonic LC1. Always wanted to go there and take pictures but never really got round to. It was really lucky that I could go in and take pictures close up. As much as I enjoyed taking pictures in Bodiam Castle, I somehow found taking pictures of this building more inspiring but also more challenging. It is easy to take a nice picture of a beautiful place or great building but taking interesting pictures of decay is a bigger challenge. The weather was on my side today and I went there at the right time to have the sun provide great light and shadows inside.

Overgrown

GRD, f4.5, 1/320, ISO 64, JPG

After the last two days of covering protests I needed some quiet and decided to take a walk through Greenwich Park on my way home and relax there.
Took this picture while walking towards the park.

Urban Decay - Part 1

Another series and the first in a multipart series depicting urban decay in London. I will try to upload the next parts over the next weeks and months.
London is on the one side a very old city with great Victorian buildings, new modern developments, skyscrapers and old landmarks. The other side of London are derelict and abandoned buildings, factories and churches. I find it fascinating how both of these are sometimes right next to each other. It is hard to believe if you look at the ridiculous property prices that there are so many empty buildings (new and old).

Some of these buildings however deserve to be demolished, like these ex-council flats in Kidbrooke or the worst part of London in Elephant & Castle. At least the former will soon be demolished to make room for a new development.
When looking at some of the old council flats one has to wonder if these buildings were ever considered nice or what went on when people decided to build ugly grey concrete blocks of flats. Almost like piling up containers next and on top of each other. I for one hope these buildings will be demolished very soon to make room for new developments or better parks.

I took all pictures with the GX100, at first I thought of using the GRD I to get the grainy b&w look at ISO 400 but decided that some color will be better and the GX100 gave me the look I wanted and the versatility due to the zoom.