Today was started slightly earlier with us ready to leave after a quick breakfast at 9am. The hour or so drive to The Great Wall was passed with music and guitar. The temperature outside became noticeably colder with windows fogging and small patches of snow visible on the side of the road and on the hills. We arrived at The Great Wall at around 10:30am and after purchases of extra warm hats and gloves we spent two hours walking along the walls and through the towers. Fog made visibility from the wall very low, we were only able to see a little more that 100 metres in front of us either way. I (Tom) saw snow for the very first time and spent plenty of time distracted by it. Once we had finished walking we spent some time in gift shops at the entrance and bought fancy hats and other small gifts.
Once our two hours at the Great Wall were up we travelled to a Jade workshop which specialised in the craft of Jaded jewellery and statues. We were able to watch some of the craftsmen work, cutting away intricately at their trinkets. The showroom featured many intricate and delicate pieces. We had lunch on the floor above, which refuelled us for the later activities.
The weather had not fined up and it was still bitterly cold but we moved to the Olympic Park where we saw the stadiums, the Water Cube and the Birdsnest.. They were two of the main venues that were the host to the 2008 Olympic Games. The long flat path that ran in-between the stadiums was great terrain for running so a lot of us burned off some steam exploring.
We finally came back to the hotel at just after 5pm and had some free time for an hour before our dinner. We are looking forward to the move to Xi’An tomorrow, despite the early start.
-Tom Warner & Finlay Hendricks
