This is my 7th episode of my 7th C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 steps, reflecting on my experiences, from the moment I was catapulted off by my daughter with 3 peacock feathers till the day I came back with half the Middle Kingdom. Fortunately, along the way, I managed to overcome 2 Great Falls, several near stranding on the mountainous Great Wall, scaled many almost vertical Tianti’s (Heavenly stairs), crossed the treacherous Simatai Sky bridge, but the most telling for me is the opportunity to witness and experience the humility, kindness and love of the simple rural villagers.
Allow me to start with the wise quote of Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 Oct 1854 – 30 Novermber 1900), an Irish playwright, poet and author:-
“Nowadays people know the price of everything but the value of nothing”.
– Oscar Wilde –
We have forgotten how to value things without a price tag. Hence, when we get our most abundant gifts such as “compassion, insight, attention, love”, we confuse their worth; because they are priceless and free.
When I first started this C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 steps journey, the hope was to set a goal to keep me going for the next 10 years – a walk in silence, in peace, in humility – to seek misty mountains to soothe my frayed urban soul. The completed 5,658,383 steps (3,033.8 km) west to east path from Jiayuguan to Shanhaiguan was just a conduit to discover the secret self - in search of this nothing - to receive, to experience and to return this to our community.
The excitement of standing beside the first Ming tower - Di Yidun (第一墩), Jiayuguan, didn’t last long as the murky weather, the soggy path along the high earthen wall, made us trudged wearily towards the shilouetted Jiayuguan Fort.
Many a times, there were difficulties searching for the continuation of the wall – sections eroded, blocked by raised railway line, became part of irrigation canal, cordoned off by houses and factories and some became parts of new farmlands.
Seeing my footprints on the muddy wall, suddenly liven up my spirits – that, I was walking the same Ming Great Wall of China as great emperors and generals past, wow! But then further on, there were footprints of farmers, sheep, goats, birds, which quickly brought me back to earth, literally.
Not knowing enough history of the Ming Great Wall, I was just merely following the GPS track, searching out the wall, marking and counting the towers as I pass. I became aware of the arid surrounds, the red earth with a thick layer of loess, the sparse greenery of shrubs and small trees offering relief from the withering heat.
Rambling on through the plains, the mountains, the streams, the rivers, the desert, the villages and towns, I began to notice:-
ripen fields of corns, buck wheat, sunflowers, sorghum, potatoes, tomatoes, water melons;
working and grazing camels, donkeys, horses, sheep, goats, among wild hares, badgers, foxes;
chattering and soaring magpies, buntings, warblers, shrikes, crows, alpine choughs, amur falcons, steppe harriers, accipiter;
blooms of chrysanthemum, peony, roses, osmanthus, huanghua, edelweiss;
vast golden shinny crescents of sand dunes with sprouting towers where the Great Wall meanders;
a Great Green Wall (to date 66 billion of targeted 100 billion trees) of mostly pine and poplars, interspersed with fir, oak, maple, elm, chestnuts, which stretches 4,500km across the North-west, North and North-east bordering the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts;
And most of all, I was enamoured by the scintillating, colourful sunrise and sunset, the clear sparkling milky way at night, the fresh cold whistling desert winds, the full arching rainbows and the occasional sun’s halos.
Ending my first walk at the Huanghe river, I cleansed myself in the mighty loam laden cool fast running yellow (actually brown) river, and upon reaching Lanzhou, I was greeted by the revered statue of Mother HuangHe, rightly bestowed as the cradle of Chinese civilization.
Indeed walking alone mostly in the first 2 years, accorded me the great golden silence of mother earth, the vast endless expanse of the horizon, the enveloping cuddle of the freezing breeze, the trembling of the freezing night, only to be humbly accepted with kindness and generosity into the first home of the villager I chance upon at the end of the day, every time!
At the start of my journey, friends had predicted, of which I took counsel, of impending dangers such as robbery, tigers, H1N1, ghosts and giant serpents coiled around the Great Wall towers.
On the contrary, I have only met "angels" along the way, like:-
the ever smiling and helpful shepherds, one in particular, used his long shaft to pull me up from a deep ravine;
the grinning shop keeper who offered a free apple;
the concerned farmer who advised against continuing my walk in the late evening and pointed me towards the nearest village (so I'm not left stranded on the wall);
the concerned villager who put me on a bus to Wuwei city instead of walking another 10km to the highway;
the friendly town girl who ensured that I got down at the right stop and waited with me until I was picked up by the guide;
the orchard family who offered tea and the juiciest apple from their farm;
the playing children whose laughter guided me out of the darkness;
the young man who offered his humble dwellings with noodles for the night, when I was left marooned on the Wuwei plain;
the kindest Wang couple who, without the slighest hesitation, took us in, in our greatest hour of need, when their neighbour ignored us ; and of course, these “fairest“ angels:-
my new found Great Wall Forum friend from Germany, who created the tracks, bought a Garmin GPS tracker, loaded it and DHL'ed to me;
my Chinese guide/author who is dependable, resourceful, knowledgeable and professional;
my first traveling companion for 15 days (who walked with me on the 1st day and stayed on to sight-see).
My first trip would not have been successful but for the "angels" above. Look around you, they are everywhere if only we are open and accepting.
These kind rural folks can accept smilingly whatever life has to offer, but, never, not giving thoughts to the sufferings of others. They would gladly open up and share their humble dwellings, whatever food and comfort, nary a “yuan“ yearned in return. They understood that giving happiness to others, brings happiness to oneself.
As I journey on, farmers would be in the field as the sun rises, toiling, harvesting the season’s pick. When asked what a year they have had, their unwavering response was always a good enough season, though the rain was not as much as last, there were enough sunshine and water for a good enough harvest.
Their compassion and optimism are so humbling. I’m just grateful and priviledged to experience such great humaneness and humanity.
It was heartening and inspiring to witness whole community working in unity to spread dry the harvested red chillies over expanses of fields, hunched over for hours digging up potatoes, bent doubled with a sickle in hand to cut the buckwheat, the maize, the sun flower stalks. And in late autumn, 3-generation family members ploughing with a pair of horses or donkeys, dropping seedlings, lovingly sharing apples and water, was a sight to behold.
When I met up with Andreas on the second trip, I was overwhelmed by his wisdom of the Great Wall, the history of China, and practically everything of our natural world. His enthusiasm and optimism to discover new findings was totally infectious and accorded me another facet to my journey.
Ever since Andreas's visit, he's got me marking beacons, towers, fortresses, and be on the look-out for remnants of bricks in these western walls. Now suddenly my trip is not only an adventure, it became an expedition....and...I was told that some of the bricks bore the maker's name and this would be valuable.....now....it has become a treasure hunt. Wow, a 3-in-1 trip (adventure, expedition, treasure hunt). As luck would have it, after a number of "naked" towers, I stumbled across a "perfect" piece of brick and started taking measurements of it, and I was stumped to look up at the tower and a "perfectly" attached brick wall on the Mongolian side. Excitedly I took measurements and photos and of course noted the GPS coordinates. It turned out to be a good day for brick-covered towers - altogether I found 6 in this western most stretch of the Ming Great Wall. Over time I have also found shards of Ming and Qin ceramics and porcelain; bricks with writings on them (marking the section of the wall), and even a Ming holed-out stone canon ball.
It was while resting on the precipice of a mountain, admiring the sprinkling of tidy hamlets being shadow played by the fleeting beauty of the high cirrus and low cumulus clouds, did I then realised the allure and phenomenon of the natural law related to climate and the weather.
It is climate and weather that give rise to the nature of water and wind and heat; and together with soil and gases, germ and seeds that sprouts leaves, flowers, fruits and plant life in general.
And it is at moment like this, that the small voice nudges me about my, and the, nature of existence? I’m indeed humbled to bear witness to the simple rural folks embracing the gifts of nature and through their right thoughts, words and deeds create energy that brings about good effects, nonchalantly, displaying selfless compasssion, loving kindness and wisdom. Even the frequent droughts and earthquake such as the magnitude 7.8 RS Tangshan in 1976, which left 240,000 dead, 160,000 injured and a whole city devastated, have not dampen their enthusiasm and optimism for life.
One of the most memorable encounters I had was on the late evening of 25 September 2011 when Andreas and I arrived at the 30-people mountain village of Huangcaoliang and we were told at 7pm (almost total darkness) that Chen Huai couldn‘t find his way up the mountain.
We had to find food and shelter for the cold night - approached the 1st house, though the lady was willing to consider, the returning man of the house just ignored us.
We were downcast of course and felt desperate - approached the neighbour with a grand-daughter in hand, and again the lady was willing to consider pending the approval of the magnanimous smiling Mr. Wang. After corralling in his 100 goats and sheep, they showed us into their humble dwellings. Mrs. Wang proceeded to prepare some delicious noodles, pumpkins, corns and mantou (steamed buns), and over dinner, the 3 year old grand daughter was showered with constant love and attention. Andreas went the extra mile - started a smoking session with the man, and before long "baijiu" was toasted throughout the night. Don't know how we managed, but all 5 of us (Mr & Mrs Wang, their grand-daughter, Andreas and I slept together on their single "kang". It was a warm/hot and fitful night of absolute relief for us, and pure delight to witness Mr. & Mrs. Wang‘s enormous demonstration of love and compassion.
It seems the motto of the countryside folks is: always be humble and kind; always be ready to help the next in line. For these human beings, being human is the law of nature.
After I fell 12m off the Dayingpan wall on the 23rd September 2012 at 12:20:31, and was miraculously saved by a young supple tree, I called my wife and said that “I accepted her for what she was, are and will be, I forgave her for what she may have said or done, say or do, and will say or do, that may have made me unhappy”. Life is so impermanent, fleeting and in the blink of an eye, could just expire. It was much later that I found out that, that day was Junji’s birthday – he must have given it up so that I can have my tomorrow, and I did show him a good time - my Great Fall - as requested via SMS by her.
Over the years, Andreas and I soon became the S&S team – he is in search of the science of the Great Wall, I, for the spirits of life, mind, consciousness, essence; he is all smile (which solves many problems), I’m mostly silence (which avoids many problems). Each time, we enter a village, he is surrounded by excited villagers eager to know where he came from, what his story was, and why was he there. His ready smile and his fluency in Mandarin always endear him to the crowd, and I was just happy, quietly watching the animated interchanges.
We were fortunate to have the regular company of KQ, KB and Junji on our annual trips for short periods, boosting our morale and enhancing the joy of great camaraderie.
I am to realise later, that with these 3, we have been walking as the C.O.U.N.T team – KQ is Compassion: ever smiling, helpful and kind; Andreas is eternal Optimism: where everything is possible; I am Unity: bringing the team together; KB is nature: full of resources, slightly fragile but resilient; and Junji is Tomorrow: where he and his nation believes they can make the future a better world.
Upon reaching our final destination, for me, it was a mixture of happiness, triumph, and a tinge of apprehension – happy that I have accomplished my mission to hike from Jiayuguan to Laolongtou; triumphant that I overcame the challenges and doubts; and apprehensive that I may miss the beautiful walks, the wonderful encounters and the fellowship of the team.
My greatest achievement in this “C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 million steps”, if anything, is the knowledge that many blessed friends have made a difference to another less fortunate person’s life. I am most happy to pay tributes to these generous people and share some of the messages posted back to me:-
Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 10:27 AM:
The irony of it all is that since i left my job, i ended up with donating more than i ever had to various charities in my entire life so far. Whilst with no real income. I meant 5 figures in S$. Will do a donation just to mark your million steps !
Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 12:21 PM:
I would like to make a donation to a charity of your choice. Please let me know to whom I should make the cheque payable. I will then send you the cheque and leave you to hand/post it to the recipient.
Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 10:37 AM:
Will take up your request to pledge/make a small donation to some worthy cause.
Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 3:09 PM
On the charity donations. Tom and I already donate to 2 Childrens charities, 2 animal charities and 1 cancer charity every month and then along with the walks and fund raising we do regularly, decided that we do enough.
Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 7:12 PM
PS: Have been in Philippines since Wed last week. Half my staff have property damage from Ketsana. Hoping the 3rd typhoon will not come... On pledges to donate – does donating to my staff count O Great One?
Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:24 PM
Sorry forgot to say. Our donation went into adopting a little african girl called Jeannelle. We will send money every month which will go towards her education etc. We adopted her on behalf of my business 'Christine's childminding'. The little ones here enjoy looking at her letters and draw pictures for me to send.
Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 2:57 PM
Ha ha my dear friend you have German company I’m glad to hear that as alone not safe lah. Will take your advice to donate. take care Keep me posted on Scenic Places
30 Sep, 2012, at 9:39 AM
Do you have the link to where we can donate? What he is doing is brave and I salute him for taking the plunge. God blessed him to be saved...landing on lotus flower of all things!
Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 3:34 PM
Hi! Thean Hin - how do we donate towards this C.O.U.N.T. that u mentioned?
Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 11:11 PM
Congratulations on another successful personal endeavor to walk another phase of The Wall. Your commitment to pursue this challenging journey is most admirable. In recognition of your pursuit of C.O.U.N.T, I have donated to the annual United Way campaign at work thru payroll deduction for all of 2014.
Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 9:46 AM.
I would like to make a contribution to you on your 7th C.O.U.N.T. Can you please give me your bank account no. Best wishes and have a safe journey. – Informed to donate to Ti-Ratana directly.
Sun, Sep 18, 2016 at 8:41 PM
Hi Hin, I just banked in the cheque. In case u need a record for your noble cause, I‘m enclosing the receipt. Congrats again
Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 11:24 AM
I have made a donation of SGD500 to Ti-Ratana which is nominated by Mr Ooi Thean Hin as his charity for his Great Wall trek.
I’m overwhelmed and humbled to know so many kind souls willing to extend their helping hands to the less fortunate. I have, since, fulfilled my pledge and donated the RM 10,000.
The walk along the Great Wall is just by the way, and I am most grateful that it has given me the opportunity for calmness, peace and harmony. I have great admiration for the longest man-made wall and the utmost respect for the people who built it.
Let me share this little gem I picked up on my journey:
A dream changes nothing, a decision changes something, and determination changes everything.
And as I ponder the coming days, I hope to have plenty of nothing to do.
Just bear in mind, nothing is free. Hugs are free too.
Let’s spread them around and make our world a happier place.
C.O.U.N.T – Compassion, Optimism, Unity, Nature and Tomorrow.
"Every fortunate person to demonstrate the Compassion of one's heart and donate to the destitute and needy, so that together we can share and partake in the Optimism and hope for the Unity of all peoples to preserve the wonders and beauty of Nature for our children of Tomorrow."
COUNT our blessings.
COUNT on you to make a difference in another person’s life.
Take care and wish you enough.