The Really Great Wall

It's now Tuesday afternoon. It's our last afternoon in China and, like every day we've experienced in Beijing, it's been beautiful. I'm doing all I can to get caught up but am deeply dubious about the possibility of actually doing so. In this post I'll write about our first full day is Beijing which was Saturday.

When we arrived on Friday, Amy's friend XiaoXia came to see us in our room and constructed an itinerary for us, as I mentioned in my last post. As part of that itinerary we scheduled a Great Wall Tour for Saturday. We were told we would be picked up at 8:00 and left a wake up call request for 7:00. At 6:15 we were called to inform us we would actually be picked up at 7:40. At 7:10 we got our wake up call. Of course, we were already awake. No matter. Breakfast was at 7:30. We learned it's totally possible to get to breakfast at 7:30 and be ready to leave by 7:40. Our tour guide showed up on schedule, and after a brisk walk to the bus, which couldn't navigate the narrow hutong where our hotel is, we were on our way.

The first stop was not the Great Wall but the tombs of the Ming emperors.

The white patch is snow. There was ice on the rivers. The weather was beautiful, but both this morning and the next it was cold until afternoon.

We learned all about the Ming emperors. I should say we were told all about the Ming emperors. I actually remember nothing.

This is Vidya, talking with Nancy. We ended up getting to know her, along with a German named Peter, rather well. One of the fun things about group tours is meeting other people. On this tour I had great fun speaking in German with a German couple. There were Mexicans, Russians, Canadians, and people from the U.K. along with Vidya from India and Peter and the couple I chatted so much with from Germany. We were the only Americans.

This is the layout of the tomb area. As with the terra cotta warrior site it's very much in accord with feng shui principles. In fact, in China it would seem absolutely everything is laid out in accord with feng shui principles.

I'll just show you some photos.

I thought I should throw in a photo of the bus as we spent a great deal of time on it.

We figured that after our unanticipated visit to the tombs we would now be off to the wall, but we were wrong. We were off to a jade factory!

In contrast to the terra cotta warrior replicas this was at least somewhat interesting.

This man was presumably diligently manufacturing some exquisite piece of jewelry, but I noticed when I walked back there by myself that he was gone, and the lights were off.

The really good thing about the jade place is that we got lunch there -- a good lunch in a festive setting.

Ok, our tummies are full. Time for the Great Wall, right?

Wrong. It's time for a snap diagnosis by the Best Chinese Medicine Doctors in China! This lady is explaining to us something about herbs and diagnosis using pulse, tongue appearance, and complexion.

It was fun, albeit somewhat surreal. This is the German couple I so enjoyed chatting with. She has diabetes and is on an insulin pump. She wondered whether the doctor would figure it out. As it turned out, he did not diagnose her diabetes. He did, however, ask her about diabetes. He didn't ask either Nancy or me about diabetes. Perhaps there's more to this sort of medicine than my western trained mind is inclined to accept.

Here's Nancy getting her consultation. The doctor told her her blood pressure was low and that she should get some herbal medications so her extremities would not be so cold. Now, that was interesting. Nancy didn't fill the prescriptions she was given, but thinks perhaps she will check it out in Seattle.

I got a consultation also and enjoyed it. The doctor asked whether I have high blood pressure and suggested alcohol might be a contributing factor. He seemed wise.

Finally we were on our way to the Great Wall. It's in the mountains north of Beijing. Up, up we wound and then, there we were. Turns out we needed to buy a cable car ticket to actually get to the wall. While we were waiting I took this photo of one of the Canadians in our group. He's from Saskatchewan and on the bus ride back explained to me why in his part of the world people shoot magpies. He's taking a photo of his Chinese wife.

The wall, or at least the part of it we saw, is amazing. Conceptually, it's beyond amazing. For hundreds of years it was a work in progress. Beginning in the 5th century B.C. Chinese states constructed walls to defend their borders. In 221 B.C. Qin Shi Huang, of terra cotta warrior fame, unified the country and unified the wall, tearing down internal parts. The story goes on over the next couple thousand years or so until the Mongols got in after all (they were let through the wall by a disaffected general), conquered the country and then were absorbed by it. Now there was no reason to defend against the Mongols as Mongolia was a part of China. There was no more need for the wall that at one time stretched over 4,000 miles.

Some photos.

Here's Vidya again.

Our new Facebook photo.

Finally, it was time to head back down.

The bus ride back into Beijing took nearly 2 1/2 hours! All the stories about Beijing traffic are true. The good thing was, it gave us a chance to see the sunset

in addition to the steady stream of spectacular buildings. This is the Bank of China.

After we finally got back, Peter, Vidya, Nancy and I decided to go to Haagen Dazs for a pre-dinner treat which turned into a dinner substitute.

After those treats Vidya invited us up to her room for some tea. Her view was better than ours.

We had a great time and chatted until nearly 11:00 p.m. I've shown you some photos of Vidya. Here's one of Peter to balance them.

Vidya was here on business. Peter's teaching for three weeks and really misses his wife and girls. They are two great people we met serendipitously in China on a tour. To our minds, this is what traveling is all about.