Just Another Brick in the Wall
Beijing, China
June 05, 2009
We were up at 6:15 today. We had breakfast buffet. I had eggs with the lime we bought, chicken sausage, whole wheat toast, brie, cereal with raisins and peanut butter and tea. Bill had scrambled eggs, bacon, croissant, walnut bread, watermelon, juice and tea. We were in the lobby with other people awaiting their Great Wall tours. There were two boys with their parents having breakfast in the lobby. They made a huge mess!
At 8:00 Han Cho (aka Ellie, pronounced Ally) collected us. We are on bus 2131, the license plate, not the number on the side of the bus. There are 16 of us on the tour. There are people from Germany, England, Finland, Portugal and Bulgaria Doc - Am I Gonna Make it?.
Some interesting tidbits: Circle represents - bird's nest, man, heaven, yang. Square represents - swimming pool, woman, earth, yin. Jade is for good luck, for good circulation of the blood (women should wear on the left to keep your youth).
We went to the Ming Tombs. The site was selected by Emperor Yongle (who moved the capital to Beijing). There are 13 Emperors from the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) buried here. There were also 23 Empresses and countless concubines buried here. There were 16 Emperors during this period, the first 2 were buried near Nanjing (the former capital, Yongle was the 3rd Emperor of this Dynasty). Emperor Jingtai is buried West of Beijing because he committed suicide in 1644 and was not allowed an Imperial burial.
Emperor Yongle's Tomb is known as the Changling Tomb (tomb of stability) Nice. The tombs that have been excavated are: Zhaoling, Dingling and Changling. At all of the tombs, only the name of the Emperor appears (not wife and children).
The route of the path is: Stone Memorial Archway - Great Red Gate (South) - Stele Pavilion - Stone Sculptures - Dragon & Phoenix Gate - 7 Arch Bridge - Changling Tomb.
The Gate of Eminent Favour is yellow (powerful) and red (good luck). We went into the Hall of Eminent Favour. It is a yellow building with a red roof. It has white marble staircases and blue, yellow, white and green tiles. There was a statue of Zhu Di, Emperor Yongle (1360 - 1424). We saw the crown of the 13th Empress. It has blue flowers, dragons (man) and phoenixes (woman). There were pearls and enamel, 3 other crowns, porcelain, Gui - ritual burial object (jade), silver and gold dishes, silver and gold ingot and jewellery The Wall. All of these things were uncovered at the tombs.
We went by the Living Gate - Threshold of the Stars. When you leave you step over it - men with left foot and women with right foot (to ensure your return).
We saw Wungong (5 sacrificial utensils) that are in front of all the tombs. The middle utensil was an incense burner.
We were walking through a very nice area. It would have been serene without tourists. There were swallows flying around amongst all of the evergreen trees. We also had a nice view of the Dragon Mountain and the Tiger Mountain. Sadly we did not get to see the animal stone statues. That would have been interesting to see.
Instead we had to rush off to the Traditional Chinese Health Center. The motto of Eastern Medicine is "No Health, No Wealth" and that prevention is better than the cure The Wall. I can't argue with that...
The Dr looks at your tongue and feels your pulse on your right and left wrists with his 3 fingers. The left wrist is: heart, liver and kidney. The right wrist is: lungs and spleen. The Dr told me that I have poor circulation (related to kidney), that I have shoulder and lower back pain and stomach pain. Again, no argument here. Bill is good, but he needs to exercise more! LOL!
Next important stop was the Jade Factory. FYI: the jade cabbage you see is supposed to bring wealth and good fortune, but you have to point it in the right direction. There are many colours of jade: white, sigal mountain jade (yellow), agate (red), xui (light green) and turquoise. A mix of two or three colours is very lucky (or something along those lines, it is a very good thing).
We looked at some jade The Wall. The dragon charm with red and black were very nice, but I don't think I would wear it very often, so we did not spend the $120.
We had our family style lunch here. We sat with the people from Portugal who were visiting their daughter that was working in Hong Kong. We had rice, veggies with tofu and mushrooms, soup with seaweed, bok choy and mushrooms, seafood with corn and tofu, another veggie dish, two types of chicken and veggie dishes, pork with peppers and tea. So, lunch was pretty good!
Badaling was our next stop. Ba means 8. This stretch of the Great Wall is 17 kms long and was built 2,700 years ago. Holy Moly! It is the most visited spot of the wall, millions each year, and I believe it! The highest point of this section is 1,015 m above sea level.
Apparently one man and his son have climbed all sections of the Great Wall and it took them 4 years and 6 months to do it. I think I will pass on that!
We took the "cable ride" up which was like a kiddie ride from the carnies. So much so, that when we disembarked at the top, the guy unnecessarily touched my leg (above the knee). I was already up and out without any assistance. The Creep!
Most people headed right, so we went left. We had to go downhill a lot and it was very steep. I was not looking forward to the climb back up.
Have you seen the movie "She's All That"? Well, at the beginning, she was none of that, then in the middle, she was some of that, at the end, she was all of that... That is how the Great Wall was. At first there was people everywhere and you could see a bit of the wall. By the middle of our hike we could see the wall ahead and behind us and it was really good. By the time we climbed to the highest point of our walk and had to turn around - WOW! It really was GREAT! I went from throwing elbows at other tourists to standing in awe of an incredible man-made feat!
The wall just keeps going and going. It twists and turns and goes high along the hills. It is really beautiful. I am glad that we are going to go to another section of the wall on another day. We are going to head further out to a less touristy area and I think it is going to be amazing!
We only had two hours to explore, so we headed back and were able to walk down. So, we did not have to climb back up to the area where the kiddie ride was. Thank God!
We revisited the Asiatic Bears. They are so sweet and I felt so badly. There were 1/2 dozen stuck in a small cement enclosure that was swarming with flies. I am not sure why an endangered species is kept in conditions like this...
We walked back to the parking lot. We had to walk quite a way on a winding street. We were stopped frequently by vans and cars wanting to drive us back to the parking lot. It is strange that the parking lots are not closer.
We arrived back in Beijing during rush hour on a Friday afternoon, so it took a while. We passed by Olympic Park and saw the media center, the torch tower, the water cube, bird's nest and the National tennis center. Bill is very impressed that it is along the core line with all of the other important buildings in Beijing (like the Forbidden City).
We were dropped off at our hotel at 5:45. So, we went up to the 15th floor for cheese pizza, pork stuffed eggplant with an herb crust, grilled zucchini salad with pesto, watermelon and musk melon, peanuts, raisins, soda and vodka, and wine.
We used the internet until 9:00 and then I tried to order steamed milk, but was given microwaved milk. I will try again another time...
We watched part of Shrek III and then went to sleep.
