Great Wall Pictures

Hola,

we've left the winter behind!

2 days ago we were skating across a frozen lake in Beijing. Yesterday afternoon we boarded the train in Beijing and entered our very cool, private train car It had 2 bunk beds, an arm chair, a table, very large picture window, and a private bathroom with a western style toilet Up until this point every train we had been on in China had an eastern style toilet, one to be shared by about 40 people....if you haven't been to Asia and are unsure what an eastern style toilet is; I won't get into specifics but it involves squatting and a very good aim... I prefer western toilets. so this was a relief. big relief.

it was a 25 hour train ride of privacy as we enjoyed the scenic views, private car, and Wall-E on my laptop. fun.
when we went to bed there were frozen rivers and leaf-less trees out the window.
we woke up around 9:30 and when i opened the curtains there were palm trees, blue skies, and lush mountains! so nice to see an early spring! we made it to Hong Kong to my friend Neil's place; his neighborhood is ridiculously gorgeous and feels exactly like southern California, complete with beaches, pastel buildings, and city skyline in the distance. nice.

it looks like his internet connection is wonderfully fast so i should get all caught up on pictures in the next day or two. for now, enjoy our day at The Great Wall like i've mentioned, it was cold. the high temperature while we were there was around 33 degrees with really strong, blustery wind. in many of the pictures you won't see much of us, but you'll get a good idea what kind of protective winter clothing we brought along with us, including my totally badass ninja-style get up....which actually made the cold worth it; how often do i get to look this much like a ninja, really?

tomorrow we'll spend the day in downtown Hong Kong. looking forward to it!

---

---

---