Is It The End... Or Is It Just The Beginning?

When you check into a hotel in North West China at 2AM in the morning you have to wake the desk staff.  Fortunately they are probably all sleeping on mattresses on the floor at reception.  It also means you probably sleep in and miss the morning tour which included a rice whiskey factory and camel rides through the sand dunes.

Our next stop was Jiayuguan where depending on your perspective the Great Wall ends or begins.  There is a well preserved/reconstructed fortress complex along with the wall.

There is no single Great Wall out at this end of the Hexi Corridor.  There are bits of wall that have been reconstructed and surrounded with gift kiosks.  There are also miles and miles of wall that just sit derelict and rotting away.  Large sections have been removed for roads, ever expanding towns and Great Wall souvenirs.   It was along a bit of this original wall where we continued the GlobeRiders penchant for burying things around the world.  A geocache was created which included a copy of the Chinese Rules Of The Road, a knife and fork, and one of the last Brian medallions.