First of all, I just posted a whole bunch of pictures in the gallery, so go take a look.

The few days in Beijing was just what we had planned. Shopping, eating, going out... And yes, it is a great city indeed (how do I have the feeling that I've said that before...ehhh). We stayed in a hostel in the Chaoyang district, conveniently located nearby the Sanlitun bar/restaurant area. The hostel wasn't too bad, the room really was like a hotel room. The only problem really was the weird people who were staying along the same corridor, a bunch of Indian (?) men who were being loud and one of them even had a Chinese woman staying with him, and she obviously wanted to leave, over which they were having arguments right outside our room. She kept begging him to let her leave, but ended up coming back anyway. And geeeez lady pleeeez don't wear those heels if you walk around the corridors at night.

But the shopping... you really should have seen us. We really were (once again) the two bag ladies from Nong Da. We arrived with just a backpack each, but left with a zillion plastic bags. But those markets are just *dangerous*, they sell all kinds of stuff (most interestinlgy clothes & shoes) for such cheap prices. I've never have the shop-a-holic woman come out in me like this before, I've even thought I'm quite reasonable when it comes to buying things. I guess it's just one of those things that China does to you.

Even in a tiny supermarket in Sanlitun, where they have some Western goodies (as there are lots of foreigners living in the area) we went absolutely bonkers. Not so much in terms of buying loads, but just really acting like two countryside girls who walk into a shop full of just about everything they would imagine heaven to hold in one room. We only realised after about 10 minutes of running around the place and shouting "aaaaggh!! I can't believe they have *this*!!" that we were really behaving like a pair of idiots. But hey, we really are countryside girls here... and oh those wonders of a big city!

And yes, we made it to the Great Wall! We wrote our names down for a tour organised by the hostel and took off in a minibus after 7 in the morning, going to SiMaTai, which is part of the wall that is still pretty much in the original state, about 2 hours away from Beijing. Altogether we were seven people: us, a really nice young Chinese couple, two French blokes, and a Chinese guy studying in France with the two. The day was really cloudy and foggy, the only foggy day that I've seen for a couple of weeks, actually. First we were a little annoyed by the weather, as it really has been sunny every other day before it and since, but actually once we got to the wall, the weather gave the scenery a dreamy, even mystical quality, it really reminded me of those Chinese paintings that you see. It was a really good trip, we climbed the wall all the way up the hil,l we made it to the 12th, which is as far as you could go. Up there, it was just totally silent, there was no one else around except for us... amazing. And kilometres and kilometres of hills, wrapped in clouds, in every direction around us.

The saying here goes that you are not a real man until you climb the wall. I don't know how that worked for me, but they also say that a woman gets more beautiful if she climbs the wall. Dissapointingly, no matter how closely I've been keeping an eye on the mirror, I can't seem to notice any change.

At night, after all that climbing and walking and stumbling down the hill in the end, Griselle and me decided to keep going and go for a real night out. So after dinner we did some bar hopping, checking out a few places in Sanlitun, and finally ended up in a bar called Poachers. By the time we got there, we we almost ready to go home soon, but ended up staying until the wee hours, dancing on the table to all those songs that we'd been missing. It was great fun, I'm not a big clubber but when I do feel like dancing, then it has to be done properly. And what better way than on a table in a middle of a crowded bar in Beijing.

But now, back in Baoding once again and -- aaagghhh--- the last week of holiday. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to teaching again, but I guess there's no avoiding it. I do like the students, and it's really not a bad job, but I really am enjoying my freedom right now, getting paid for doing nothing ;) But still a few more days of that to go, tomorrow me and Gris are heading to Shijiazhuang for a day, just for the heck of it. No big plans, just walking around, eating out, maybe some more shopping (nngghhh, can't resist!!)...
But once again, being back in Baoding today and walking to town, no matter how much I like Beijing and would love to live there, I realised once again how much I like Baoding, too. It might not have those tall, shiny buildings and fancy bars and restaurants, but it has it's own charm, and it's home home home right now.

I'll post some more pics soon, but now the sofa is calling. Never resist the call of the sofa.