Walls, Steps, Hills, Palaces, Walls, Steps, Hills, Palaces

So it's been a fairly epic 4 days in the grand old land of Beijing. You hear a lot of things about China before you go.... But Beijing is a wonderful mix of mystical ancient history and super modern advanced westernisation and not a lot in the middle. A city of contrasts for sure. Very safe, very clean, MASSIVE beyond comprehension but actually very calm and organised and everyone's just happy getting on and doing their thing.

6am Sunday, we took a 4 hour car journey to the Huxbei Provence (which borders with Mongolia) and to the Jingshanling area of the Great Wall. Luke is not a morning person and hasn't yet woken up this holiday. They must work him hard because I think he is catching up. This area is the most remote area that tourists can access and as soon as you get there you can see that most of people selling things or offering to be guides are Mongolian and look quite different to the Chinese people. They also have amazing fitness levels as I have never seen people run up 150 steps so quickly to try and offer someone chopsticks or 10p postcards.

Anyway Mongolians aside it is safe to say that this is an absolutely stunningly beautiful mountainous region which is a hard hike but extremely rewarding. The section of the wall is named after the regiment/area of soldiers that built it and the hike consisted of 18 towers. Most are separated by steep stairs or paved sections which were treacherous because of the amount of snow and ice up there. It's safe to say health and safety is not top of their list but actually in the name of conservation it's understandable why it's left untouched. This particular section is around 600 years old and mostly unrestored. Only the first 3 towers were restored in the 80's, the rest are In their original state. It was completely exhausting, hard work and a mental test to do (I had to have a good chat with myself when faced with another set of 110 Ice and snow covered steps) but getting to the highest point of the wall was well worth it. How the soldiers did it day in and day out is unbelievable, they must have been machines!

Today we got up fairly early and headed North West of Beijing to the Summer Palace. It is stunning beyond words and actually more beautiful and interesting than the Forbidden City. The whole lake around which the palace was built was completely frozen over with people walking on it and somehow that combined with the light mist covering Beijing added a magical touch to the place.

Then after a quick lunch stop headed over to the Forbidden City and Mao's Mausoleum. Safe to say once you've seen one temple/palace you've seen them all. What is interesting is the history of the people and Dynasty's and what each one did. Saw some pretty ancient vases and pots going back to 200bc but perfectly preserved.

Last night in Beijing tonight so having a slap Up meal at Otto's before getting up early and heading over to the airport to catch our flight to Xi'an. To be perfectly honest I don't think I can last much longer in this hostel down to the pure and simple fact that the signing father Christmassy in the courtyard has a sensor which goes off everytime someone walks past (which is about every 10 seconds)