Well, winter here is in full force, but it's actually not as bad as I expected it to be (I write that as I sit comfortably in our very warm apartment!). Because it's so dry here and there's usually not much wind, it doesn't seem that cold. But in saying that, at 7.00 in the morning when I leave for the subway, it's still dark and around -4 degrees. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the subway, and then another 20 minutes from the subway to school. By the time I get there, half of my face feels frozen! It's only about 4 degrees coming home from school so I can't complain about that! On the couple of days that it has been overcast, it has snowed, but not heavy or long enough to leave a white cityscape.
Leaving Beijing last week about 2 hours to the north was another story! The photos below are of White River in Hairou/Miyun Districts. A friend from work and I went on a 12km hike along the iced river and had a hilarious time! The scenery was gorgeous, but the fun part was each time we became complacent with our steps, a foot would slip out from under you, accompanied by a gasp and a fit of laughter! The biggest laugh was falling through a part of the ice - luckily it was only crossing a shallow section!
