From China

Thanks to Kevin Colburn for these images… he writes:

“Hello James!!!

I hope this finds everyone well. I reside in Bessemer, AL, and I am
currently on assignment in Beijing, China for 6 months. I have been
here 5 weeks so far. So as any red-blooded American would so, I went
on a couple of sight seeing tours of the Great Wall of China. I am
sending a few pictures of my adventure to Jiankou, the “secret wall”-
meaning that it is a very long hike up the mountain to this section.
It is over 1000 years old and left in ruin. It has lasted the tests
of time due to the arid climate and low humidity.

Basically few Chinese, let alone Westerners and Europeans, have
visited this part of the Great Wall, unless you find a good guide.
Since many people will never know about this part, I wanted to share
it with the blog. We had to scale 3500 feet up some old “goat trails”
in order to get there, but the view was definitely worth it.

I still keep up with the blog and Alabama weather since I’ve been
here. It helps relieve some of the homesickness.

Nothern China is in a serious drought right now, and it has not rained
but 2 days since I have been here, and it was a mist/sprinkles. We
had a terrible duststorm here my second weekend in during my trip to
the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. The sky was red for about 4
hours because of all of the dust from the Mongolian desert to the
north of here.

The air here in Beijing is very smoggy, and definitely polluted. They
tell me breathing the air here is the equivalent of smoking 1 pack of
cigarettes a day! No wonder you see so many pictures of Chinese
people wearing masks. They really do wear alot of them around here.

Thanks for all you guys do at the weather office. Please tell Jason
Simpson congratulations!!! I always watched his forecasts at 5:30 AM
before I left for work in the mornings. I’ll be home soon to watch
you all again.

God Bless!!!
Kevin Colburn”

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