The Great Staircase

I am having troubles uploading photos. My computer is very slow. Consequently, my post will be a day after the actual blog.
Yesterday, a group of 9 of us went to see the Great Wall and The Ming Tombs. It should really be called the Great Staircase. Almost 2000 steps up and then you have to still get down.
Anyway, we started by going to the Ming Tombs.

It was nicer today because of the wind. Actually saw blue skies. In any case, something like 13 of the 16 Ming Rulers are buried in this area (pic 1). I don't remember what the second picture says but I think it explains the tombs.
Here is moi in front of one of the tombs:

We were only there for a short period of time as we really wanted to see The Great Wall more than a bunch of tombs that have Pin Yin descriptions. Pin Yin is what you call the Chinese written language.

After the tombs, we drove way up into the mountains so we could do a 5K walk to the wall.

No one said it was 5K UP STAIRS!

NO SMOKING ALLOWED:

But everyone smokes anyway. No guards or military on the way up so people smoke. Additionally, while I could have taken a picture but decided in the best interests of everybody not to, there was also a spot where someone obviously needed to defecate off to the side of the stairs. They do that here. One always need to be aware of their next step! Walking at night is even more precarious.

Once we got to the top, the views were pretty awesome.

There was a couple taking wedding photos.

It was pretty nice to see. I uploaded another picture but it doesn't show here so I'll try to remember to include that in my next post.

The Wall was nice to see. Contrary to what has been said in the past, you CAN'T see The Great Wall from space. However, it is massively long (I think greater than 2000 miles if my conversion is correct.

What I found was so neat on the way back was this still-used aquaduct.

They still use them throughout China to control snow melt in the spring as well as rain in other seasons. Made me think of the Romans and all the aquaducts still in use over there.

We stopped for lunch and ate like we hadn't eaten in a week. Here is most of our group:

They just keep brining food if you finish the previous dish. We finally said NO MORE.

It's amazing that more accidents don't happen or people get run over. Driving here is an accident waiting to happen! Probably more accurate would be Darwinian: Survival of the Fittest!

Our last stop of the day was to a silk shop. They took us through the process of the silkworm life-cycle, how they get the silk, and then how they weave and dye to make some pretty nice clothing, sheets, and so forth. The picture here shows the walkway over the main road. Pretty fancy I'd say!

The next picture I just had to take.

Our guide calls this, "The only 7-Star hotel in the world". Hmmm, I thought seven stars meant heaven. Anyway, Bill Gates rents one on the top floor for 100,000,000 Yuan a year. Divide that by 6.7 and that's your dollar amount. I think that comes out to about $15M a year. The top floor is that 'thing' that looks like it was slapped on top. I'll try and get a better piture before I leave here tomorrow. I head to Shenzhen (Shen Zen) tomorrow evening. That's right next to Hong Kong. It's a 23 hour train ride in a 'Hard Sleeper'. That means there are six people to a cabin with two sides of 3-bunks. Each is priced differently with nthe bottom bunk the most and the top the least. Please pray for those that have to endure my snoring.

Today, I go to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. It's hotter than Hades today so I am going to take the metro-train instead of walking. Should be an experience. I'll try my best to get today's activities posted tonight. More likely, I will do so tomorrow due to how long it takes to upload pictures.
Later.

written by

akstoltzy on May 24, 2010 from Beijing, China

from the travel blog: China

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Wasn't able to post last night for some reason but now I can
My favorite one is the great wall and how the picture captures it
I have learned a few things that I never knew!
Love this!

written by Dana Craig on May 25, 2010

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