Dragon Challenge, May 2018

Entering Ying and Yang Square for the start.

Statue marking the eastern terminus of this section of the Wall.

Me on the Great Wall during our walk-through two days before the Marathon.

Looking down on Ying and Yang Square from the Wall.

This young lady ran with blades! It was interesting to watch the transition.

Purchased photo: Start of the Great Wall Marathon.

Great Wall Marathon Aid Station.

This young man wanted to give me his bouquet of flowers during the marathon. But with a water bottle in one hand and a camera in the other, he had to settle for having his picture taken.

Vendor along the Great Wall marathon route.

Commercially purchased photo taken during the second Wall traverse with my finishing time. Note the people in the background.

“How did I do that?”

Recovery food for the Great Wall Marathon. (Yes, Subway has found China.)

In Beijing we toured a pearl shop. This is a freshwater oyster, which can produce multiple pearls.

Display in the Beijing pearl shop.

Touring Beijing: One of the structures at the Summer Palace.

Inside the Forbidden City

Entering Tiananmen Square

Looking down one of the valleys in Bhutan.

Me and prayer flags with the Tiger’s Next in the background.

Buddhist ceremony before Bhutan’s Thunder Dragon Marathon.

Awaiting the start

Aid station during the Thunder Dragon Marathon.

Parts of the course were definitely a trail.

Crossing the Paro Chu River

“How did I do that?” times two.

The giant Buddha in the final stages of construction at the Bhutanese capitol of Thimphu.

A complementing statue at the site of the giant Buddha.