No exam weekend, maybe I can go out for a walk

At 00:22 on Saturday, a hard seat train departs directly from Fengtai Station to Qinhuangdao Station. It arrives around six-thirty when the sun is just rising. Opening your eyes and looking through the window to see the sunrise is indeed nice, but since it’s not yet time to check in, I bought an 8 RMB ticket to go to Shanhaiguan first. I have to say, having a railway to Shanhaiguan District is really convenient, saving a lot of taxi fare (though I still couldn’t avoid taking a taxi later). One big feature of off-season travel, besides fewer people, is the endless variety of ways to solicit customers at the scenic spots’ entrances. Being a bit naive, I almost got caught up, but later I generally kept a cold face and said I had already bought tickets. I bought a combined ticket for four attractions in the ancient city, then walked around most of the Shanhaiguan city wall. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, and the wind on the city tower was so strong I couldn’t take out my hands, so I wrapped myself in a large down jacket to hide from it. Walking to the statue of Xu Da at the northeast corner, the view was especially good. Looking far into the distance, the sight stretched from the sprawling towns to the slightly distant bluish Jiao Mountain and the Great Wall lying across the mountainside. As for the scenery inside the ancient city, that’s where the restaurants are, and as everyone knows, restaurants don’t open early at 8 a.m., so I walked along the north city wall and the clouds above Jiao Mountain for a while, then left heading south.