A Dragon's Head?

Yesterday was another day off, as we gear up for our first game of the Olympics. We had the morning off, and then we took a little excursion to the part of the Great Wall here near us in Qinhuangdao. Old Dragon’s Head (Laolongtou) is the eastern end of the Wall that dips into the Bohai Sea . This section of the wall was constructed during the Ming Dynasty between the years 1368 to 1644. Its name is derived from a legendary stone-carved dragon head that used to face the sea. The original structure has long since crumbled away, and what stands today is a 1980s effort by the authorities to replicate the original. Other sights of interest at that location include the Changtai Tower, and the Temple to the Sea Goddess that sits in its center, which was originally built in 1579, but is now covered with replica soldiers in Qing Dynasty costume. This section of the Wall was not nearly as spectacular as what we saw in Badaling, but it was still neat to see where it begins. The area is much more flat that what we faced during our previous Great Wall trip, which was a great relief to us. I have included a photo of myself along with Lori Chalupny standing with the Old Dragon’s Head in the background. Right where our bus dropped us off, there was a small labyrinth. As we were waiting to get on the bus to leave, Shannon Boxx, Christie Rampone, and I decided we wanted to go through it. So, we quickly raced through, with a few minor detours and made it to the center in time to bang on the drum before we had to race back out to board the bus. It was a fun little excursion that ended up being a bit harder than we had anticipated, but luckily only took a few minutes to get through. The rest of the day was spent relaxing back at the hotel.