Beijing part two: The Great Wall

As promised we spent two days exploring Beijing, so here is the rest of it.
In this trip we check off one of the 7 modern wonders of the world.

See if you can guess which one...

Update: All pictures should be visible now!

From our hotel we had a bit of a trek to the Great Wall, a couple hours drive depending on traffic. But our tour guide filled the trip there with some key stops that really showed the flavor and history of China.

First up was "The Spirit Way", a section of the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

Bet you'd never guess what this building is for

If you said it was to house a giant turtle with an obelisk of an emperors great deeds written on it's back....good guess

The more important you were the bigger your turtle was. Status symbols of the ancient world

"The Spirit Way" (sometimes translated into "The Sacred Way") is a long garden pathway that has statues on either side showing mythical animals as well as kings and military officials.

The Ming tombs weren't for just one person, but for several high ranking officials as well

So peaceful 

The area really was very tranquil and scenic. We enjoyed ourselves immensely here and it was a fabulous way to start our day.

Well, it was tranquil till we got there

Legend says that the animals change places every night, going from a sitting position to a standing one.

Security cameras have made this legend a little harder to believe 

The path itself was to lead people into the after life, the longer you traveled the more important you were. The Road also curved slightly to fool evil spirits.

The red in this are written prayers people have hung

Umbrellaceptor

If you hug the statue, you will be lucky and successful. I hugged it a little longer after this picture

An early morning walk that started the day off right.
After that our driver picked us up on the far side of the Sacred Way and drove us to the Ming Tomb.

When you cross the gateway into the spirit world, you are supposed to proclaim your arrival out-loud to either side

Helen did an awesome job of describing this tomb and emperor to us. The history was really interesting, the tomb was for the 13th emperor, who was one of the least liked. He fell in love with one of his servant girls and wanted her son to be the next in line for the throne. No one was OK with this at the time so he stopped ruling and partied for a few decades. As a result he was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty. (If you want to read a more accurate description of him.)


The history lesson on the Emperor was awesome, it made walking through it that much more special.

We mistimed our end of movie freeze-frame, it made the rest of the day awkward

The tomb itself was deep underground, nearly 130 feet. 

Recreation of the tombs, you can see where people have thrown a lot of money for luck....most things are done for luck here

For an ancient tomb it sure is well lit 

We really enjoyed the Ming Tomb, and it even ended with finding great tiny elephant statues.

Adorable

These actually had a great background. Turns out they were from an empire that felt bad about wrecking other tombs, so these little statues were an apology gift. So we walked away with a new term, "Apology Elephants."

They never forget to say "I'm sorry"....get it because they are elephants and elephants never.....I'm sorry

After the tombs we still had a bit of a drive to The Great Wall, and we planned on getting lunch on the way. It was just kinda nice to relax and save our energy for the walking and climbing to come.

But the drive was completely worth it.

With very few people around that day

The rain stopped just as we arrived

Now, you don't just get out of the car and suddenly you are looking at the Great Wall of China. It itself is up on the hills and mountains, you have to ride on a lift or cable-car to get up there. This is that video.

It took about five minutes to get up to the top and you could see everything from up there. Miles and miles of the Great Wall were within view.

It can't be stated enough that no one was here that day. A combination of rain earlier and a huge parade being prepared in Beijing really seemed to drive people away while we visited.

It had been raining a lot that day, but when we got to the Wall all the rain stopped for the hours we were there. Certainly some good luck.

We were assured that the ski-lift we rode on was a German made, not Chinese

Pictures really don't give the scale of the Wall justice, considering this was just a small section of it.

Warning: Selfie section

We kind of just walked around and explored, taking it all in for a while. An impressive part is how steep some of the walkways can be. Not all of it has steps and it is sort of a huge ramp at times.

It looks a lot taller after walking a few miles

After a while we had to keep in mind there was a plane to catch that night. What better way to shave some time off the trip back then by riding a Toboggan down the side of a mountain next to The Great Wall of China.

Look, just pretend only one picture was taken

Yes we rode on that

It's OK, Michelle Obama did it and was fine, always a marker of whether or not you should do something

The ride down was great and something we wont forget. Shortly after getting to the base of the mountain it started raining again and we made our way back into Beijing for our flight out that night.

A lot of pictures didn't make the cut for this post, expect another one just for everything else taken soon.


A small update:
The next assignment is in, and it is going to be in India. Details are still coming but wanted to let everyone know. When we get something more concrete i'll make a post about it.