This morning we were greeted by a pleasant -2°C, with a layer of freshly fallen snow. This was quite amazing since some of us had never experienced snow before. Despite the astonishment of finding snow and it being freezing cold, we were still excited for the day ahead. It was a great start to the day.
Two hours later, after the long bus trip, we arrived at the tourist centre at the bottom of the Great Wall. We then took a very small shuttle bus to the base of the Great Wall. At this point we could only see the wall from a distance, however, what we could see in close distance was an excruciatingly long flight of stairs. After our somewhat challenging trek up the stairs we reached the wall itself. From here we could see the great divide the wall had created between the beautiful landscape that surrounded it. Many of us were fascinated by the extent of which you could see. The air from on top of the Great Wall was beautiful and fresh and better quality than what we had been breathing in the past few days. From here we toured across the top of the wall. This was difficult as the thin layer of snow had built up to create a very slippery surface. Many of us fell, but it was all in good spirit. With the surrounding snow we made snowballs and threw them at each other, whilst attempting not to get hit ourselves. By now, most of us had began to feel the full effect of Beijing’s cold weather, so it was time to descend down the wall. For lunch we split up in to many small groups, to buy some lunch from the various surrounding food stores.
After yet another 2 hour bus ride back to the hotel, we prepared ourselves for dinner for a nearby restaurant. Here we got to experience the true culture of China through its’ food. We ate many different dishes such as the famous Beijing (or Peking) duck, casual dumplings and other meats and veggies. For some the Beijing duck was a very new taste, as duck is not a common food in Australia, but most seemed to like it. We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for our next adventure.
By Jeremy and Max.
