First things first: the internet connection here is incredibly slow (maybe all the filtering?), so although I will continue to try, I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to post pics.

So i lost the bet – I’ve had a head cold since we landed and am therefore officially the first person to get sick. IT is not at all eased by the massive quatities of dust infiltrating my respiratory system. Also not helping: the fluffy clouds of pollen which make walking around not dissimilar from floating through the aftermath of a gigantic pillow fight. And unfortunately the random stray puff which makes its way into my nostril, does nothing to clear out the grime already in there. Not to mention tHe fact that I managed to quit smoking 10 months ago turns out to be of little benefit in a country where breathing and smoking are nearly one and the same anyway. My poor lungs.

We journeyed to the Great wall yesterday – a three hour bus trip from beijing, which lends proof to the theory that it’s not the quality of the roads that matters, so much as the quality of the suspension system. The journey was only made longer by the fact that in spite of the jet lag, i could not nap in either direction. To explain: I am not a very high maintenance girl – I can deal with the pit toilets, and the indiscriminate evacuating of mucus everywhere… however the *only* thing which really grosses me out is grubby headrest covers. so my phobia about stranger’s hair prevented me from catching a few winks.

We elected to climb the section of the great wall which stretches from jinshanling to simatai – a rigourous 3 hour trek. Jinshanling is the less touristed and unrestored section of the wall. And by unrestored i mean allowed to quietly crumble into disrepair for the last 600 years. the wall is immense and vast and on a scale completely inconceivable even to today’s engineers. it is high and deep and passes through some of the most inhospitable land to be found. something so huge and untouched presents a formidable challenge even to a relatively fit hiker – and woe betide you if you are even moderately out of shape. “Hiking” is somewhat misleading terminology – in fact much of the passage involves nimble (or in my case, not-so-nimble) scrmabling of unending piles of loose rock and decayed stonework, surmounting incredibly long and steep stretches of perilously narrow stair, and navigating several areas where one is in distinct danger of tumbling *off the wall* with even the slightest misstep, landing bonebreakingly far below. Being a bit of a natural klutz, I admit to being quite scared at several points, and consider it nothing short of a miracle that i did not fall once.

So we huffed and puffed and clambered and climbed and sweated for three hours to arrive at simatai, an area under heavy restoration by the government. And by restoration I mean completely redoing. At the great wall, the forbidden city, in fact, all over beijing (presumbly in time for the olympics) there is lots of “restoration” taking place. Unfortunately, “authenticity” has precious little to do with the notion of “restoration” in china. things are not lovingly restored to their former antiqued glory, but rather rebuilt, as if they had been just finished yesterday. (in fact, today at the summer palace, i audibly gasped to see workmen scrambling around on qing era rooftops, haphazardly putting new tiles on.) so if we had started at simatai, i would have had to admit to being gravely disappointed. “Hey! Look at the concrete they poured last week! Just like the original great wall!” It’s not really conducive to communing with the spirit of ghengis khan, now, is it?

overall, however, i feel truly grateful to have seen the wall in its original state, and to have had the chance to get a real feel for the amazing feats of architectural brilliance and sheer manpower required to construct a structure of such imposing magnatude that it’s still being marvelled at 600 years later.

My thigh muscles, on the other hand, are still screaming at me.

next: we’re heading to datong and wutai shan, on of the sacred buddhist mountain ranges. will try to check in there.

no matter how different beijing may be in a million little ways, at it’s heart, it is still a big city – and i find that comforting. i seem to have a strange innate grasp for big cities – i know how to navigate and operate them in a way i can’t quite describe. i feel at ease, no matter how foreign the language, and it is a gift to be able to get my bearings, even when i can’t make out a single word or sign.

beijing is pretty full-on. it’s gritty and pushy and smelly and incredibly noisy, even for someone used to the urban hum. yet things are also kept refreshingly simple. we took the metro from the airport to our hostel, and it makes you appreciate how little there needs to be to complicate the task. we got on a queue, paid 3yuan each, got a small slip of paper, and gave it to the ticket attendant at the entrance. end of transation. no machines to break down, no fare zones to learn, no computerized cards to go haywire. simple.

beijing is not an easy city. god help you if you are less than fuly able-bodied. it’s not a city for the squeamish – if the thought of unrefridgerated meat, copious amounts of spit, and squat toilets where the bullseye has been missed make you squirm, then this is not the city for you.

but it’s an exciting study in contrasts. ancient history lies cheek-by-jowl with cutting edge modernism. traditional crumbling terraced hutongs in narrow alleyways are situated just opposite brand new highrises. dubious hygiene practices and state of the art electronics. sparkling clean streets and thickly polluted air.

today we awoke to a city which has been coated in a fine mist of yellow dust, courtesy of the winds from the gobi desert. masses of bicyclists headed off to work wearing their finest face masks, and a golden haze hung in the air. we decided to spend the day walking about, and headed first to the forbidden city. we entered throught the furthest gate and saw the whole thing in reverse, which turned out to be even more spectacular, as the scale of the city just continued to build in size, until we reached the climactic and impossibly large entrace. it truly is a city unto itself, just going on and on with gate after gate, building after building. a whole building which functioned solely as the dressing room for the emperor for state ocassions. the mind boggles at the scope of the detail and breadth of sheer size and grandeur. from there we passed through tiananmen square – a sober reminder of the political oppression which exists even today, and the pervasive state control of the people’s will. we wandered to the hutong shopping district with its shops featuring everything from tacky memoribilia to shoe insoles, and it’s sensory onslaught of sights, sounds and smells. there is food everywhere you turn, from backstreet kebabs grilled on the pavement, to corn on the cob hawked by a vendor in plastic bags, to ornate restaurants with staff in costume whose sole job is to stand outside and entice the passersby. we then walked to the posh shopping area which rivals oxford street or madison avenue. we bought exotic snacks to sate out curiosity, and familiar dumplings to fill the stomach. we must have walked 15 miles if we walked a step, and by the time we returned to the hostel, our nose and lungs and mouths were full of the choking yellow dust. next investment is a face mask.

tomorrow we’re off to the great wall, so more then.

zaijian for now.