China Trip - Post #6

This day we started off with a visit to the countryside to reach "The Sacred Way," the path leading to the tombs of the Ming Dynasty Emperors.  The whole area covers about 40 square kilometers, but the path itself is over a mile long.  The path starts at the gate (above) which is guarded by the fourth son of the dragon (looked more like a turtle to me) and then opens into a long path lined by pairs of stone creatures.  Each of the creatures had one standing, one sitting - one on guard duty, one resting.  The day was overcast as you can see, but the whole walk was impressive.

You can see the long path - this photo was taken at the half-way point.  The carvings were very cool.  After leaving this site we stopped at a jade factory for a tour.  We bought a couple of beautiful pieces, one for Mom for our anniversary.

 

Our first view of the Great Wall of China.

The Great Wall was GREAT!  China's most renowned monument, begun 700 BC to keep out foreign invaders (which always came from the north), the entire wall is over 4000 miles in length.  It goes from the Yellow Sea to the Gobi Desert.  The section nearest Beijing was about an hour drive from the city.  As you can see it is quite a walk.  I guess I had pictured a leisurely stroll along a flat surface like the city wall in Xi'an.  Not so!!!  It was steep beyond the ability of most in our group.  The steps vary from about 3 inches to 18 inches and some are slick and sloped.

Mom begins the hike!  We are going to go all the way to the top in the highest peak you can see in this picture.  It then turns down, crosses to the opposite canyon wall and climbs again.  We didn't do that loop!  I was exhausted!  Mom could have done it, but we didn't have time.

Just to give you some perspective on how steep it is!  This is taken while we were still near the bottom.

Proof that we made it to the top!!!!  See the wall winding below us.  I was most impressed that Mom was the first one to the top!  There were younger couples with us (I think only eight of us made it to the top) but they kept stopping and playing in the guard towers along the way.  Mom came in first, I came in a distant third!  She didn't want me to put this part in, but you can tell that I am proud of her!

This was definitely one of the most memorable parts of the trip for us both.  The scale of the wall, and the fact that it was created by an ancient people is entirely mind boggling.  Yes it has needed some repairs through the centuries and has required some maintenance to keep it intact, but it is still for real!

That ended our day.  We returned to Beijing tired but happy and had a McDonald's dinner.  As we sat talking a young Chinese student sat next to us.  I caught his eye and smiled, and he said "You are talking too fast for me to understand."  He sat by us on purpose to listen to English.  It was nice to talk to him.  He was studying to be a pilot at the aeronautical college next to our hotel.  Very nice kid.