Hiking photos - Auspicious Village, 2010/02/07
Our Auspicious Village hike is a good countryside walk through farmland, hills, and valleys. Along the way we pass three small villages, and it's always interesting to get a look at the lifestyle of people in the countryside. We walked on fresh snow, had a peek at a travelling market, and finished up with a meal of dumplings at a restaurant at the foot of the Huanghuacheng Great Wall.
As usual, we took a lot of photos! For this set, we've concentrated on village life, instead of the hiking.
Statistics: 4.75 hours in total, with 3.75 hours of walking over approx. 15km, roughly 21,000 steps; start height 116m, finish height 221m, highest point 420m. Total climbing up 484m, total climbing down 407m. Estimated 1791kCal burned.

Sheep being herded through a village.

This man drives his van around small villages, selling herbs and spices that are used to add flavour to stews - in the foreground of the picture are cinnamon sticks and star anise.

Another van, this one with fish and meat to sell.

An impromptu display of gong fu.

We followed a snow-covered trail up a valley.

The trail led through orchards and fields, and under trees.

We saw this sign in one of the villages. It reads 'Three days for showering [in the village communal showers]: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.'