Wednesday, August 29. Clear sky.
Up at 6:00, on a bus at 8:00 and off to the Great Wall today. First a compulsory Toilet Stop at a conveniently located Jade Shop. Interesting but not for us.
At the Great Wall and spent 15 minutes fixing a fellow passenger’s sunglasses. Then we hoofed it up to the second tower. That may not sound that impressive but believe me it was about all we could do. The temperature was is the low 30’s, and there was no cloud nor smog!
We walked up 20 steps and paused, then another 20. It seemed to go on forever, which it did. The crowd thinned out as people realized that this climb was not a cake-walk.
The steps varied between 4” and 12”. This was done to make it so that should the Mongols, whom the wall was built to keep out, did get on the wall, they would stumble as they tried to scale the irregular steps, but the defending Chinese would be well aware of the hazards could do their job better. That means killing Mongols.The feeling in Mongolia was reciprocal when we heard about the nasty Chinese while visiting Mongolia.[Hatred can last for thousands of years it appears.]
After we gathered our breath from the climb, we headed for lunch, again, a round table for us nine. I am getting a bit tired of communal eating, and the food is great but not to our taste. All good though.
Next we stopped at The Ming Tombs. Hmm, are we getting tired of 9 hour tours? YES! Next we had a 45 minute walking tour of some stone carvings lining a 1 KM walkway. The carvings were carved in place some 550 years ago. Amazing. Back on the buses.
Heading for the hotel now,but wait, we have one more thing for you,a stop so you can take a photo of the Olympic Tower. Back on the busses for the 5th time today and of course, rush hour traffic, so we arrived at the hotel at 6:15. Close to a 10 hour day.Not complaining, just commenting!!!
We opted for a shower and room service!
This is the screening we have to go through to get into the bloody hotel.
There is an African Countries meeting in Beijing so, every time, we empty our pockets
and then get frisked, front and back!
There is hope for the next generation, unless the State gets too them first.
Dutifully paying attention to the Jade Tour.
I think that we need this at home!
Or this, $70,000 Canadian.
Hiking again!
My younger wife, ascending!
Friends Joe and Lynn are visible, Joe in red.
Mongol stairs, very difficult to handle, up or down!
Resting in the shade at the bottom.
Ming Tomb.
Tickets are us!
Carved in place, 500+ years ago.
Be happy.
The RR Station we arrived at two nights ago.
Who is this bedraggled fellow, having beer in the lobby after 10 hours of sightseeing!
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