The Great Wall is so great that it seemingly makes an appearance in every other place we visit. The wall at Jiayuguan, however, is a little special. It’s where the wall begins.

As far as beginnings go, the Great Wall’s is a little nebulous. The earliest constructed part is technically in the middle of what is now considered the Great Wall. Both ends (what are now considered ends) were constructed separately. There are also random branches of the wall going in all directions, not to mention independent walls that were constructed and scattered all around China. Of course, some parts of the Great Wall have deteriorated, so the wall as presently seen is also several walls that were once joined together in one way or another.

All that is to say that, for all of its eccentricities, Jiayuguan is where the wall is commonly accepted to have begun. It radiates out of a fort and then extends over the desert and into the mountains. The color of the wall (above) is markedly different here. Whereas it was a dark grey in Beijing and Shanhaiguan, here’s it’s a nice khaki, owing to the nearby desert masonry.

Exiting the wall

There are several other Great Wall related sights other than the final fort. These were, however, nowhere near the fort and it was an unusually cold day. Instead of hike up the wall, again, we decided to head back to the hostel and do some laundry. Actually, Cindy did laundry while I left to buy us gloves. Both activities were successful.

When dinner came around, Cindy’s jacket was still soaked and she had no interest in stepping outside to find dinner. As the loyal and jacketed husband, it was then my responsibility to navigate Jiayuguan’s annoying long city blocks to find street eats. Unlike other cities, Jiayuguan had a noticeable lack of street vendors. My theory is that the long city blocks probably discouraged pedestrian traffic, which then discourages street vendors. It made my hunt for dinner that much more irritating.

Finally, I found a noodle window. I ordered two noodle soups to go. I foolishly thought they would be packaged like the pho back home, nicely separated into styrofoam containers. Instead, I was given two plastic bags with everything–soup, noodles, condiments–tossed in. Hmm, this would be challenging. Walking back home, people looked at me like I was carrying two bags of vomit just waiting to play a prank on someone. Upon reaching the hotel, I borrowed two bowls from the restaurants and somehow brought all of my cargo into our room intact.

Another Silk Road town checked off. Next stop–last stop–is Dunhuang.