Wonders of the World

Today was by far one of the best days in Beijing. Today I visited the Great Wall of China! Because navigating China without much Mandarin knowledge is a little challenging Mom and I signed up for another tour. This time our tour schedule included:

1. The Ming Tombs
2. A Jade Factory
3. Lunch
4. The Great Wall
5. Mr. Tea tea house
6. Olympic venues- the birds nest and water cube

The Ming Tombs weren't much to look at but the story behind their construction was actually really interesting. The Emperor Zhu Di ordered construction of the tombs during his reign. The tombs lay on a huge 40 square kilometer area with mountains surrounding the 13 tombs for different emperors and their empress. Layout of the imperial tombs follow Feng Shui because of the surrounding geography of mountains, a deep valley, and flowing water. We were only able to walk "into" one of the tombs. Basically each tomb is actually just a giant mound of dirt, but on top/close to each burial site are large buildings with 6 meter thick walls that act as protection to all the valuables that were buried with the emperor.

Gate between life and the after-life

Offerings

 

The tombs were a nice break from the bustle of the city and the lack of crowds at the tombs when we visited made it possible to take a full stride without running into another person. The grounds were extremely peaceful and our tour guide Jaime showed us how great the Chinese really are at knock offs- around the ground were fake trees! The fake cement trees held up crooked branches of real trees above. The replication was unbelievable!

Part cement, part bark

After the tombs we headed to a jade factory which was yet another tourist trap. Didn't make any purchases. We also ate lunch at the factory which again was not great. Finally after all the pit stops we were on our way to the Great Wall of China. Our tour guide filled the 45 minute drive with lots of interesting facts. First of all he told us that only 1/3 of the wall is in good condition. This actually isn't surprising at all when you consider the fact that the wall is over 5,500 miles long! That's more than the distance from St. Louis to London! 

We arrived at the wall and made the short walk to its entrance. Although we were at a spot that is often visited it is still awful to see a Subway among the restaurants and coffee shops you can choose from... 

Overall the wall was amazing. The stairs were extremely steep and a bit of a workout, but the views were worth the hike! 

Tired from all the steps we got back in our bus and headed to Olympic park. Before we were able to see the birds nest and water cube we had to do the obligatory tourist trap stop at Mr. Teas tea house. Again, no purchases.

Our tour did not actually stop outside the venues, but instead we stopped and had to climb a hill up the side of a highway bridge... it was definitely interesting.

After a long day we got back to the hotel and got Pizza Hut...again. The food is killing me here. Tomorrow will be a relaxing morning and a flight out to Shanghai in the afternoon and Hong Kong in the evening.