4 August 2007

Travel Day 4 (Great Wall and Ming Tombs) — In China

Posted by BaBa under: Travel .

08/04/2007
It was fitful night’s sleep. The hotel was fine, not great, not bad, and just comfortable. We kept waking up in the night — Jet Lag. It can be a hard adjustment, but it was easier since we were exhausted when stated the trip and had slept on the plane.

Finally time to wake and go down to breakfast. This would be the day we meet our travel party during breakfast. We arrived downstairs and met R and J and N and R along with their daughter B. It was very quickly like we knew each other for a long time. This is going to be a really good trip and a chance to make some friendships that could last a lifetime.

After breakfast, we met Lisa in the lobby and off to the bus for the trip to the Great Wall. We first stopped at the government jade factory (same stop as last year). It is like Deja Vu with a purpose this time. We got the tour, went to the bath and passed on purchasing anything.

Back on the bus and off to the wall. It is an overcast day and will not be a good photo day, but I will add the sky in later with Photoshop, this is the only choice for me unless it clears when we arrive. I will be purchasing a really big t-shirt when I am at the wall and also get rainbow some fur as she loved the one from China she got last year.

We arrived at the Great Wall, but did not go to Badalang like last year. It had been 1 year and 1 month to the date that we were on the Wall on July 4th. It was sort of ironic to note this date. We went to the first section near Beijing that was open. The weather was worse than last year. No luck with a clear sky and really we had less sun than last year. I walked around, but did not climb much of the wall as I had done this the year before. The climb here was straight up and steep. So I chose not to weary myself with the ordeal. I did look around at the small number of vendors. After a little while, I found a reasonable in price t-shirt in a really large size. The t-shirt from last year shrank and so I wanted one overly big so that it could be worn for some time. I also finally found Rainbow some fur (a pelt) for her to play with.

We got back on the bus and enjoyed the company of each other as we learned more about each family. We stopped for lunch at a Cloisonné factory. No purchases were made on our part. Lunch was only OK and nothing great. We had a little problem with the menu at lunch and trying to get dishes with meat. It was interesting to see how this is made by hand. From the Cloisonné factory, we went to the Ming tombs and walked the sacred way. It was again an experience that we did last time. We got back on the coach and then went to the hotel. Still no luck with the laptop, but I was working on a plan to update. I could save the files from the handheld to post to the web.

We got back to the hotel and made the mistake of lying down. We slept until midnight and then had to force ourselves back to bed until time to get up in the AM. Tomorrow is a travel day, so we will be flying again. We are to meet at 8am and be off to the Airport. It will be our last flight as a couple for a long time.

Chinese English Signs:

Here are the Tour Photos for your enjoyment:

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