Frozen eyelashes

Yes, there is a reason why I’ve posted a giant photo of my eye…I was trying to demonstrate just how cold it was today as we hiked the Great Wall. Not only did my eyelashes form icicles, so did the water in my bottle (and possibly the linings of my lungs). But with my multiple layers (refer to photos of me looking like a giant marshmallow) I was actually reasonably comfortable and I believe I actually complained about the cold less than Josh (which he may possibly dispute in his next post).

It’s always strange to see a famous sight in the flesh, and I have to say that the photos you see of the Great Wall don’t quite do it justice. The scale of it is pretty impressive – it just keeps on stretching on as far as you can see. We did a day trip to the Jinshaling section and apart from a couple of hardy t-shirt sellers, we basically had the wall to ourselves. It was worth coming in the low tourist season to have that sense of isolation somewhere so amazing.

The hiking was a little hard going at times – one minute you’re hauling yourself up huge steps, then you’re trying not to face plant as you descend rapidly downhill again. Some sections were crumbling away…in the parts where the side walls had completely disappeared, I did have visions of us being blown over the side. However, the worst damage done will just be some seriously aching thighs and calves tomorrow.

We ventured out for some dinner just before and had a lengthy and amusing discussion with the waiter about what to order (which mostly involved Josh imitating and miming various animals due to the waiter’s zero English and our three words of Mandarin, none of which are chicken, beef or fish). Anyway, the food was great and our first real attempt at eating out in China was a success (last night we cheated and ate in the hostel restaurant because it was about as far as we could walk after traversing most of Beijing earlier in the day).

Right now I believe another nanna bedtime is in order…