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Again, we left the hotel at around 7:30 or 8 am.
Our first stop was the Jade factory. When Benjamin told us that, some tourists were fairly upset. They complained about wasting precious time at those stores rather than at the historical sites. Benjamin gave some poor excuses and tried to be democratic. He asked for votes and said that if there were more than 5 people wanting to go to the factory, and then we'd go. I didn't see 6 people holding up hands, but Benjamin said there were 6 votes, so the group was going.
Since we were going to the Jade factory, I asked Benjamin if he knew how to differentiate between real and fake jade. As soon as I finished asking the question, The Politician who was sitting in the middle of the bus then, turned around and pointed at me and said to the whole bus that "She must be one of those who wants to go shopping." I was really irritated by his statement. Before Benjamin started answering, I said, "Wait. Just because I asked a question does not mean I want to go shopping. Do not speak for me." The Politician then said "Oh I am sorry." This was when I started to dislike the Politician. Of course, The Politician really got me and the rest of the group irritated when he started talking about China's policy and other political issues.
Anyway, moving on to the first stop of the day, the Great Wall. We visited one of the 3 sections that were open to the public: Badaling. This section was built in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) and is located outside Beijing. The Great Wall was said to have started in the Qin dynasty (221 - 205 B.C.), by Qin Shi Huang (or Qin Shi Huang Di), meaning the beginning emperor. There was also a theory that the Great Wall was started in the 7th century BC, where the warlords built their own walls to defend their own territories. Qin Shi Huang was said to be the first one who joined all these walls.
We took our 2nd group photo here before heading for the hike up the Great Wall.
It's amazing to see how people in ancient time could build something this solid. It was a work of art. Of course, the stairs weren't exactly built evenly, but they were solid enough to withstand two thousand years! One thing I couldn't figure out was that the steps were fairly high. My estimate is that some steps are as high as 15". My understanding was that people back then were shorter and smaller than we are today. Granted people from the north was bigger than people from the south, but still, why were those steps so high??? I feel for those soldiers who had to climb them every day to their posts.
To learn more about the Great Wall: http://www.discovery.com/stories/history/greatwall/greatwall.html
In the afternoon, we went to the Ming Tomb, where thirteen Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD) emperors were buried. Benjamin spoke something about how the location was selected by Feng Shui Masters but I couldn't remember the details.
We visited one of the 13 tombs, Ding Ling. Ming Tombs are about 50 km northwest of Beijing. Since all the artifacts in Ding Ling were taken, I didn't take any pictures. I was a bit disappointed but I did drag one tour mate Arlene to peek at one display of the artifacts. Through the windows we saw some really nicely embroidered silk fabric.
Description of Ding Ling:
The Ding Ling Tomb is the tomb of Emperor Wanly (reigned 1573-1619), the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, whose personal name was Zhu Yijun, and of his two empresses, Xiao Duan and Xiao Jing. The tomb was completed in six years (1584-1590); it occupies a total area of 1,195 square meters at the foot of Dayu Mountain southwest of the Changling Tomb.
The underground palace at Ding Ling Tomb consists of an antechamber, a central chamber and a rear chamber plus the left and right annexes. One of the pictures shows the central chamber where the sacrificial utensils are on display. Two marble doors are made of single slabs and carved with life-size human figures, flowers and birds. More than 3,000 articles have been unearthed from the tumulus, the most precious being the golden crowns of the emperor and his queen.
The way Benjamin pronounced it sounded like "ding-a-ling." When I told Todd that, he kept wanting to sing some song from the South about "ding-a-ling." It cracked us up.
Benjamin kept telling us on the way to the Ding Ling that all the artifacts were taken out of the tomb, and it was really just an empty room now. I asked him on the way in why we were visiting the Ding Ling if it was empty, and Benjamin gave me an attitude and said something like "it was on your itinerary." Geesh, what was on his tail?
Our last stop was the Tung Ren Tang, a very old Beijing-based medicine shop. This location is a tourist site. The original store is in Beijing. Our English guide was an elder man. He was pretty good except for his pronunciation of the H sound. It sounded like when a Chinese person was clearing his throat and ready to spit out his mucus. We all got our chance for a visit with a Chinese doctor. Of course, you also get a prescription for some Chinese herbal medicine. They were not cheap either! I decided not to buy any since I wouldn't be able to get refills, nor could I have future visits with the doctors.
At dinner, there was an open seat left next to me. Then I saw Mr. Politician coming. I knew I didn't want to have to converse with him, so I asked Ted, who was sitting next to that empty seat, to move over. I have to say that was a smart move. Ted ended up having to converse with the Politician, and I knew I was not up to masking myself after a long day. Thanks Ted!
We had to pack tonight because we were leaving early for Xian tomorrow. The bellboys were going to collect our luggage at 10:30 pm. This also killed our plan for going out tonight.