handsful

Our tour guide had another PACKED day for us on Saturday . . . we decided that it’s her job to keep us so busy that we don’t realize how tired we are.  The day started with a drive out into the suburbs of Beijing (about 80km out of town).  First stop was Long Di Superior Jade Gallery, where we got to watch them carving jade and learned how to tell real jade from imitation plastic or glass.  The person below is carving a “Family Ball”, with multiple spheres representing 3 generations, all carved from a single piece of jade.

This is our bus driver in Beijing, “Master John”.  Lisa told us they call him “Master” because he is the best driver in Beijing.

Our second stop today was at (drum roll) . . . the Great Wall.  Wow.  This is one of those situations where pictures just don’t do justice.  It is simply an astounding structure, and after climbing up and down just a portion of it, I just can’t grasp how hard it must have been to build.  Here we are at the bottom of a mountain that the Wall climbs.  And yes, it was COLD.

It may not look it from this picture, but that is one long, steep climb.  The steps are all completely random, with some being a couple of feet tall and some only a couple of inches.  Only a few people in our group went all the way to the top, and naturally Randy had to be one of them . . . about a 2 hour hike.  By the end he was worn out and sweating, carrying his coat and sweatshirt, and wearing only a t-shirt and his jeans.

Check out the flags at the base of this section of the wall.  The wind was really gusting.  The picture below shows another section of the wall from high up on the mountain.

Donna on the wall, and Randy at the top.  Woo hoo !

After working our way back down the wall to the bus, and after a handful or two of Advil, we went to get lunch at a local restaurant.  It was a very nice place located in the back of a Cloisonne manufacturer, so we took some time to check it out.  Cloisonne is one of the traditional crafts of Beijing, dating back ~ 500 years, and the process involves making objects out of copper and then covering them with enamel.  Basically.

Here is a vase getting painted, and then another getting fired.  I hope you like these pictures . . . while we were taking these, the bus almost pulled off without us.  That would have been interesting.

The next stop were the Ming Tombs, a place where 13 of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty were buried (along with their concubines).  We were told that they selected this site because it has good “fung shui”, allowing the expired emperors to be at harmony with nature in their tombs.  And we have been told, by several people now, that “If you believe in fung shui it works, and if you don’t believe in fung shui it still works”.

See how “harmonious” this guy looks?

There is a walkway at the Ming Tombs lined with carvings of soldiers, animals, and dragons.  Donna made a new, big, friend.

This was the last “tour” of the day.  We left the tombs and headed back to the city, but instead of coming straight back Lisa had Master John drive the bus past the new Olympic Village and the new facility they built to hold the opening Ceremony . . . they call it the “Birds Nest”.  Wonder why?

A few interesting tidbits we have picked up on over the past two days:

– Street vendors are EVERYWHERE in Beijing, and they are very persistent when the see a group of foreigners.  If you do actually stop to talk to one, at least 2-3 more will flock around you like pigeons who have caught a glimpse of bread crumbs.

– You really have to be careful walking around in the city, especially when crossing the streets.  There is an obvious order of importance and priority, and it is directly related to size.  Buses don’t slow down for anyone.  Then cars, scooters, rickshaws, bikes, and lastly pedistrians.

– Most all of the people in Beijing who do not want to live in the old courtyards style housing move out into high rise apartments, and they are EVERYWHERE.  There are a couple of pictures of them below.

Well, that’s about it for today.  After a pretty good dinner of Peking Duck at a local restaurant (yes, Donna ate duck), we had to spend some time getting “re-packed”.  We are getting up early tomorrow and will be on the bus by 8:00AM to head back to the airport.  Flying to Hefei on Sunday and spending most of the time once we arrive getting things ready for Lainey.  Hard to believe we are only a couple of days and one more flight away from our daughter.  Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers!

* I wanted to add a note that I (Randy) wrote the notes for todays excursions, while my wife caught up on some sleep.  Didn’t want Donna to get accused of any misspelled words or anything like that.  She is going to get twitchy giving up control of her website . . . LOL.