Thr Great Wall and the Ming Tombs

Our excursion day to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall started with the obligatory stop at the Jade Factory. Under great protest, we spent a ½ hour there (Kate bought a globe). We took the Drunken Dragon Mobile through the approach to the Ming Tombs, called the spirit way. In the heat and humidity, it was the only way to go.

The path was lined with 12 sets of stone animals. Then we went into the tomb of Dingling (affectionately called Ding-a ling by our group), the 13th Emperor. We climbed down a never- ending set of cold damp stairs -100 feet below- to the tomb area (in the heat, the cold damp air of the tombs were a welcome relief). There wasn’t much left of the three main halls but reproductions of the relics belonging to the royals.
Lunch provided yet another shopping opportunity as they winded our way through the “Friendship Store” to get to our lunch spot. The Chinese have truly embraced capitalism with a vengeance
The Great Wall was unbelievable.

We went to the section of wall at Mutianyu, 75 miles north of Beijing and just recently restored. (We had the option of visiting Badaling- where Richard Nixon toured or Mutianyu- where Bill Clinton toured) Mutianyu is less touristed and still has sections of the wall that are unrestored- so we opted to go with Bill’s choice. The wall was littered with vendors selling postcards and water (at inflated prices, since they had to carry them up the hills). .

We took the chair lift up and took the slide back down. The slides were hysterical- a few people (Martin, in particular) took to racing down at high speeds and torturing the rest of us.

Our guide was interesting. When asked “What does dog taste like?”, he gave us the definitive answer: “It tastes like donkey or mule”.
Dinner was at the Chinese restaurant next to Franks- excellent Chinese food at very cheap prices.