Great Wall of China
When we arrived at the car park, we first went to get some lunch from a local restaurant. The lunch consisted of fish and some stir fry dishes. After this, we walked outside towards the start of the viewing area. I was wearing gloves, a neck warmer, a hat, and a warm jacket, but it still felt freezing cold. When we arrived at the viewing area, we caught a cable car up the mountain to the Great Wall of China. There is a saying in Chinese 不到长城非好汉 (budaochangchengfeihaohan) which means if you haven’t been to the Great Wall of China, you are not a real man. I have come across this saying before in Chinese textbooks, and this was written on a sign and was also being played over a speaker at the viewing point.
We walked along the wall until the end of the accessible area in one direction taking many photos of the wall which continues as far as the eye can see over the mountains. It was still mostly a dry cold although there were some small patches of snow on the wall. We walked a little bit in the opposite direction however the open area in this direction was much longer and steeper. Given the harsh weather conditions, we decided not to walk too far before return to the cable car. It was still good to visit the wall despite the cold.
We then returned down the cable car and walked back to the car feeling relieved to be out of the freezing cold.
Summer Palace
Next, Angie’s father drove us all around 1 hour to the Summer Palace. I slept for almost the entire drive since I think the cold weather made me exhausted. The summer palace was quite scenic with many different structures on the hill and around the lake. The lake here was man-made and the dirt excavated to build it created the hill where the palaces are situated. We visited a few of those and walked up many flights of stairs taking in the views of the lake below. Angie told me that she often walks around this area with her parents.
After walking around for a while, we stopped at a tea shop for some hot drinks. It was still cold outside, although not quite -9 degrees as we were no longer in the mountains.
Beijing Hotpot and Chinese Massage
After leaving the Summer Palace, which was located on one side of Beijing, we went for some Beijing-styled hotpot at a restaurant on the other side of Beijing. On the map, the distance did not look far although due to Beijing’s size, it took over 1.5 hours to drive there. On the way there Angie’s family taught me about a Beijing dialect phrase that refers to hotpot which is 涮羊肉 (shuanyangrou) which means to use chopsticks to place lamb into boiling water. This is because Beijing hotpot is focused mainly on boiled lamb and less on being spicy like hotpots from other areas such as Sichuan province. In spoken language, the Beijing locals often shorten this a step further to 涮儿肉 (shuanerrou) highlighting my point about the speech similarities to Australian English. The hotpot was delicious, with a strong lamb taste. I enjoy the peanut sauce that they often have with their hotpots here. I also had another type of baijiu and local beer with Angie’s father at dinner.
After dinner, we all went for Chinese styled massages and ear cleaning nearby the restaurant.
