The Ming Tombs and the Great Wall

Day two of our great adventure in Beijing started out sunny, warm and humid and then quickly progressed to HOT and HUMID.  We met up with our guide and driver at 9am and drove out to a location about 30 miles north of Beijing for a tour of the Ming Tombs.  The Ming Dynasty ruled from 1368 to 1644.  This is the resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming emperors.  Where the other 3 are is a long story, best left for another time.  The 13 tombs are spread over a 15 sq mile area, so needless to say, there was much left unexplored.  As it turned out, we really didn't see any of the tombs.  Instead our guide took us down a long road, known as the main Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs.  It was part of a 4-mile ceremonial route that the emperor's funeral procession took on their way to the burial place.  It is in fact a peaceful, tree-lined, stone paved "street" with 12 large statues of various animals (some real and some mythical) placed at regular intervals.   The ¾ mile section we walked down ended at a monument pavilion containing a large stone stele covered with Chinese characters extolling the virtuous exploits of the particular emperor responsible for it's construction (imagine that).  As the day was heating up and we still had much to do (even though there were no tombs in sight), we called it good and moved on.

 

After lunch, and a nice 90 minute drive into the lush, green mountains north of Beijing, we eventually arrived at Mutianyu.  This 20km section of the wall was restored in recent times, and is the 2^nd most frequented site along the Great Wall.  By 2:30pm, when we arrived, the sun was shining and the temperature must have been 99+ deg F, so only the brave, desperate and foolish tourists were to be found.  In other words, there were very few people there.  In fact, the local souvenir vendors had us outnumbered by at least 5 to 1.   The approach to this section of the wall is quite steep, so after a rather strenuous walk up a stone paved lane (being harassed every step of the way by the souvenir vendors), you finally reach a cable car which takes you up the final 500 – 600 vertical feet to the wall.  After bravely enduring this portion of the hike/climb in the heat, Debby was ready to call it quits, and retreated to a bench in the shade to "admire" the wall from below.  Having come this far, I pushed on, and climbed the last flight of stairs to go up onto the wall.  I had wanted to see the Great Wall ever since I was a kid and had first seen pictures of it.  I was not disappointed, the Great Wall is an impressive example of ancient engineering, audacity and sheer man power.  As you stand there, gazing in the distance as the wall stretches before you, rising and falling and finally disappearing over the distant mountaintops, you cannot even  imagine the incredible human effort required for such a gargantuan construction project, in the most the most inaccessible of places.  It makes you tired just to think about it.   If you ever get to Beijing, visiting the wall is definitely a must (just try to avoid visiting in July).

 

Sunday morning we depart for Nanning, and our rendezvous with Journey.