Shanhaiguan- Dragons Head

Although the holiday period is now over (its the 7th October today) the roads leaving Beijing were still gridlocked in places. Men stood in the road, smoking, and chatting to each other. Mobile phones, cameras and picnic foods were passed around and the drivers did unbeleivable things like backing down the on ramps, u turns across 4 lanes and driving the wrong way...

On the last trip, this part had been by train.  The bus meant we could stop at road side conveniences... the toilets were clean and white tiled and spacious... better than a train toilet anyday!  But all that water from hosing them down frequently had resulted in a different sort of nuisance... hoards of mosqitoes waiting for you to bare your butt!
We tried ice creams and perused the range of foods and other items ( two life size china guard dogs?) for sale.   How unadventurous am I, choosing a standard  trumpet instead of pea flavoured popsicle!

Shanhaiguan is where the Great Wall of China finally meets the sea.  The wall itself is often spoken of as a long serpent or dragon snaking its way across China, hence the Dragons Head here shows where it ends at the sea.