China Day 2: August 23
Wakeup call...6:00am. Breakfast at 6:30. I ate the same thing for breakfast at the hotel each day...bacon, pancakes, sausages, watermelon, orange juice and coffee. Boring I know, but these things are all hard to come by where I live. We were on our way by 7:30.
It was a beautiful day as we drove 50km on the Badaling expressway to the Ming Tombs. This is the general name given to the underground mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). The mausoleums have been perfectly preserved, as has the necropolis of each of the many emperors. Because of its long history, palatial and integrated architecture, the site has a high cultural and historic value. The layout and arrangement of all thirteen mausoleums are very similar but vary in size as well as in the complexity of their structures.
It was originally built only for Changling, the tomb of Emperor Zhu Di and his empresses. This is the most magnificent of the tombs. The succeeding twelve emperors had their tombs built around Changling.
Entrance to the Ming Tombs
Intricately carved baluster caps like this one appear throughout in the Forbidden City, as well as at the other Ming monuments in and around Beijing.
Imperial guard
Coffins of the Emperor and 2 Empresses
We spent a little over one hour in the tombs, then it was off to a jade carving factory. There were some spectacular pieces there.
After lunch and more shopping we were off to what was for me one of the highlights of the trip...The Great Wall. It was early afternoon and it had gotten quite hot. The climb wasn't easy...in some places the Wall is extreemely steep and you find yourself walking at a very odd angle. This was something I could now cross off my 'lifetime todo list' ...I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. At the summit of the wall at Badaling there is a little kiosk where you can buy a photo of yourself and have it mounted on a certificate that in Chinese says you have successfully climbed. I probably would have bought one of those, but I had left my money in the bus.
The Great Wall at Badaling
The Wall summit
I was really there!
After reassembling at the point where we began our ascent, we boarded the bus and were off to "Dragon's Gorge". Its actual name is "Longqing Gorge." It is a natural Scenic Area is located 10 kilometers northeast of the county seat of Yanqing. Known as "Lesser Lijiang river outside the Great wall" and "The Small Three gorges of China," it is one of Beijing's top 16 tourist sites. Longqing Gorge covers an area of 119 square kilometers. The main scenic spots include the largest dam in Northern China-a concrete dam more than 70 meters high. Here tourists can see waterfalls in summer and icefalls in winter.
We walked along the gorge for 20 minutes to the dam, and then took the 258-meter escalator to the top of the dam. The escalator was built in 1996. Since it is shaped like a dragon, it is named the "Soaring Dragon" Escalator, and it is included in the Guinness Book Of Records for its length.
Jade sculpture near entrance of Dragon's Gorge
Dragon escalotor to the top of the dam. Longest escalator in the world.
Friends...Maria, Lisa and Stephanie
We walked along a winding mountain path at the top of the dam and got a spectacular panoramic view of the lake. We boarded a ship toured the lake for about an hour.
We had done quite a bit of walking so far on this day and most of us were pretty beat. What better way to end such a day than with a full body massage expertly done by a beautiful masseuse. There were many rooms in this place and each room could accomodate about 10 clients. Male clients had masseuses, and females, masseurs.
Finally, we went for supper and were back in the hotel by about 8:30pm.
I had invited James, Maria, Stephanie and Lisa for a beer in the bar, but once they saw the prices they wouldn't let me do it and came up with a better idea. We walked to a little corner store not far from the hotel and bought some beer. It wasn't the "Corona" that I was craving, but it would do and it only cost $2.50 for 5 cans as opposed to almost $5.00 for a single "Corona". I bought the first 5 and my friends bought the 5 more. Then, we went to the room they shared and had a little party. We laughed, talked, drank the beer and ate some fruit.
I left around 11pm and went straight to bed.
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