Oct (4) - Jianyuguan - Hexi Corridor - my 50th birthday!

The fascination of fleeting friendships - I just wanted the richness to last!

There is a 1000km narrow tract of land in the west central part of the country where people have fought over China and trade rights for thousands of years. It is through this "corridor" that the camel caravans of the Silk Road had to travel. Hills/mountais to the north especially are strung with sections of the Great Wall to defend against the Mongols - although the Tibetans also attacked from the south.

We visited a huge fort and then walked on a portion of the Great Wall. It was our last day together and I felt quite sentimental - as it had been a very rich group experience. (A toll on the traveler! - the fascination of fleeting friendships)

Currently this area is developing rapidly into a major industrial center and near its most western end - the space launch site. In and among these huge installations are farms of produce and again delicious raisin and other dried fruits which they mix into a most outstanding cake!

Major power plant just outside the Great Wall

Entrance to the huge walled fort

Inside only a small ssection

I can't seem to get enough of these roof lines

"Let Them Eat Cake...."

And then it happened! I turned 50!!! A little background : for most of my life I never have looked in mirrors. Occasionally people have taken photos, but I've always remembered the feeling of the moment and not reflected on my image, so they didn't count as looking at myself. Before this trip I began wondering what 70 feels like, as it is a rather substantial number. I started looking at the photos that have been taken in all these months to see if I could better understand! I didn't just look, I studied them and certainly there are lines and clearly white hair and early on a lot more weight. But then suddenly one day, basking in the influence of 20 really fun people all younger than I, someone took a photo and when I looked at it, it was like a revelation....... there was no way the person in the photo could be 70 by the looks of it. I just knew in my gut that I was 50, or at most 55. So I told people and we had a little celebration. I find in the subsequent months that my age is no longer provocative. I stand tall, pull myself together, walk with confidence and smile and laugh a whole lot. It is GORGEOUS to feel this way. In fact I am kind of nutty about it. I no longer have the daily seruptious body check to see if everything is fully functional. So if this is 50, I'm all for it. I'll even settle for 55!

October 4 - my new birthday! Standing on the Great Wall in the west.

Celebrating youth and vigor!

 

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