The Great Wall of China

We headed out to the outskirts of Beijing near the mountains where we were taken to a jade factory. We saw some exquisite pieces of carved jade. Jade is this really carvable yet strong piece of rock and is usually pretty green. Here were a couple of Jade Cougars which were about life size. And for only $120,000 plus shipping costs on a 2,000lb piece of art they almost had us convinced...uh no.

There were less expensive items, but we kept our money in our pocket here.

We are beginning to notice a pattern with touring China...go somewhere, see a piece of history, spend lots of money on souvenirs celebrating the Chinese tradition. Now that we know their tactics, our group oohs and ahhs appropriately and then we all hurry to the bus to the next site/souvenir shop.

We also saw the Ming tombs where the remains of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty had their tombs built and heard morbid stories of servants and concubines being buried alive with the dead emperor.



We walked along a beautiful garden called the Sacred Way (Brian's Favorite place so far) and then headed to the highlight of the day...The Great Wall of China.

Its hard to find the right word, but it is impossilbe to understate how uterlly amazing the Great Wall of China is. It must be the only thing in the world that no matter how amazing you were expecting it to be, it would at a minimum exceed your expectations. Where some good reviews can ruin your expecations becuase you were looking forward to the event so much, we believe it to be impossible to have that same experience with the Great Wall of China. Take the coolest thing you have ever done, and then double that as many times as you can image--you would still be short of the experience of climbing on and around the Greatest Thing Ever Built by Mankind. I have never seen the pyrimads of egypt but if they are 1/10 the vastness of the greatwall of china, I would be shocked. These Pictures do half the justice.

The mountain ridges where we headed were snaked with the mighty wall that was built once the tribes of China were unified in 221 BC. The wall was used for defense and for a speedy way to transport troops across the country for battle. The streets up to the wall are lined with souvenir shops (of course) and then once you are on the wall barely breathing as you climb you have to somehow catch your breath enough to say "Boo yao" (no thanks) to all the peddlers along the length of the wall you hike. This phrase works well in Beijing, but some of the Manchurians on the wall either did not understand or pretended not to.



The Wall was amazing and it is truly impossible to imagine it being built manually in such a perilous location with so much stone cutting and laying necessary. Even today we see Beijing constantly under construction with huge jobs being done without machines. Men and women digging with shovels for highway construction, etc. Everyone is busy and yet the work seems to move so slowly.



The Great Wall had steps of various heights and then just slopes of slippery rock. One area of steps was so steep you could not see the over the edge until you were one or two steps away. Gorgeous views and beautiful weather. On our way down we practiced our bartering skills and came away with cheaper things than everyone else had managed to get. Brian is getting quite the reputation for his negotiating skills. He loves it and the interaction with the Chinese people is really fun.