shanhaiguan and meng jiangnv temple (qinhuangdao, hebei)

the uncomfortably cold night was followed by a breakfast buffet (extra of course) that consisted largely of cold unappetising dishes.
our local guide was a bubbly girl jia fang, or party A in a legal document as she cheerfully informed us. we learnt from her the Big Fat Hairy Deal fact that qinhuangdao is only one of two cities named after royalty, the other being st petersburg. it was transformed from a sleepy fishing village when qinshihuang ventured here to perform some rites or other. as we travelled through the city, there was little to attract the eye, except for this: the "age of burning lives" bar. so that's what we all were, mere fodder for this age, so why not down some alcohol and burn brighter and faster?
shanhaihuan, where the great wall meets the sea, was the main attraction for the day. the specific spot is named laolongtou (old dragon head). shanhaiguan was a veritable fortress, with walls within walls and filled with traps for potential attackers. it also houses the "tianxiadiyiguan" (first pass under heaven) calligraphy, or rather the 5 versions of it. the effect though, was more akin to that of a fun-fair that's gone to seed. the game booths had stuffed toy prizes that looked as though they would rather be someplace else. the section of the reconstructed wall where one could walk upon was lined with souvenir stalls stocked with site-specific memorabilia and russian bric-a-brac. baboushka dolls anyone? the other attraction, in the loosest sense of the word, was the meng jiangnv temple. it was admirable how an entire attraction could be spun around meng's tragic tale, but even haw par villa offered more kicks. hellish dioramas beat scenes from a virtuous love story every time. given that the temple merited the top AAAA national rating, what i would dearly love to see is a single A-rated tourist attraction. how about a C-rated one? perhaps this would apply to sites with nary an attraction but lots of souvenir stalls and game booths. wait a minute.
the highlight of the day was a seafood meal we had all been looking forward to: fish, cockles, crabs, and pipixia, some variety of shrimp which was in season.
headed back to beijing after shanhaiguan, with a final change of vehicles since van no. 3 did not meet the exhaust standards and could not enter within the third ring road area. xiaosha from the travel agency and her boss were there at the handover. more profuse apologies. after picking up the expenses for the ropeway (130 rmb a head) and the meals on sunday (30/4, 20 rmb a head), we were offered (group of 11) a free trip to an attraction in the outskirts of Beijing.