Day 20: “40 minutes? That’s curious isn’t it?” quote by me, Hollie
Our second full day in Beijing we set off on a bus tour of the Ming tomb and the Great Wall of China. We were very lucky that Leona could spend another day with us sight seeing. We started the day by riding in an air conditioned bus to get lunch. At our first stop we arrived at a bizarre, market type place. There was no English on this tour so we gathered what we could from Leona and the man who was sitting next to Jeff and I who was a native of China, but living in Canada for the past several years. When we stopped we were told that we had exactly 70 minutes to eat and shop. The bus would wait for no one and would not wait one second later than the designated time. I think there is a great deal of corruption that is constantly going on in China. The people who live here seem to just accept it, but it drives me nuts. We were told that our lunch wouldn’t be ready for 40 minutes and so we should go shop. Mind you we only had 70 minutes at this stop. We found out later that the bus tour gets paid if the passengers stop and shop for at least 40 minutes. We skipped the shopping and headed into eat. I have to say this was the worst meal we have ever had. It was worse than boy scout camp and that is saying a lot! Apparently, the meal is a traditional meal that one particular emperor really liked, but I can’t imagine he lived long eating like this. The restaurant was absolutely filthy and complete chaos surrounded us. There was one worker who was nasal screeching at all the other workers. She could be heard through out the entire facility. There wasn’t a single patron in that restaurant that didn’t turn and stare at her in amazement of the sounds coming out of her mouth. I hardly ever get headaches, but I did.
Next we headed to Ming’s Tomb. I guess 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried there. We only saw one tomb. I wasn’t particularly impressed. None of it was in English and there weren’t a lot of ornate things to look at so I can’t say much about this part of our tour. Except it was about six stories under ground and incredibly cool. Ah, the coolness was great!
The Great wall was our next stop. Now I’ve got a terrible headache. I didn’t bring anything with me so I needed to find an aspirin or some other type of headache remedy. I was glad Leona was with me. We found a cigarette store and in a locked cupboard in the back of the store are drugs. Leona explained to the store clerk what I needed. She tried to get me to explain what I thought was the root of my headache, but I couldn’t explain that it was just too hot, too many people, slight dehydration and a very screechy lunch lady. She found something for me and I very reluctantly took it. I don’t know what it was, but within half an hour I felt fine and ready to conquer the Great wall.
The Great wall is amazing! We had a couple of hours to explore and climb. The landscape surrounding the Great wall is very beautiful. It’s mountainous covered with lush, green shrubs and trees everywhere. The wall took advantage of the natural terrain for defensive purposes following the highest points and clinging to the ridges, so now it has beautiful panoramic views. It is very steep in several places and the stairs are unevenly spaced so it can be tricky at times to walk. Here are several pictures.
Our second full day in Beijing we set off on a bus tour of the Ming tomb and the Great Wall of China. We were very lucky that Leona could spend another day with us sight seeing. We started the day by riding in an air conditioned bus to get lunch. At our first stop we arrived at a bizarre, market type place. There was no English on this tour so we gathered what we could from Leona and the man who was sitting next to Jeff and I who was a native of China, but living in Canada for the past several years. When we stopped we were told that we had exactly 70 minutes to eat and shop. The bus would wait for no one and would not wait one second later than the designated time. I think there is a great deal of corruption that is constantly going on in China. The people who live here seem to just accept it, but it drives me nuts. We were told that our lunch wouldn’t be ready for 40 minutes and so we should go shop. Mind you we only had 70 minutes at this stop. We found out later that the bus tour gets paid if the passengers stop and shop for at least 40 minutes. We skipped the shopping and headed into eat. I have to say this was the worst meal we have ever had. It was worse than boy scout camp and that is saying a lot! Apparently, the meal is a traditional meal that one particular emperor really liked, but I can’t imagine he lived long eating like this. The restaurant was absolutely filthy and complete chaos surrounded us. There was one worker who was nasal screeching at all the other workers. She could be heard through out the entire facility. There wasn’t a single patron in that restaurant that didn’t turn and stare at her in amazement of the sounds coming out of her mouth. I hardly ever get headaches, but I did.
Next we headed to Ming’s Tomb. I guess 13 of the 16 Ming emperors are buried there. We only saw one tomb. I wasn’t particularly impressed. None of it was in English and there weren’t a lot of ornate things to look at so I can’t say much about this part of our tour. Except it was about six stories under ground and incredibly cool. Ah, the coolness was great!
The Great wall was our next stop. Now I’ve got a terrible headache. I didn’t bring anything with me so I needed to find an aspirin or some other type of headache remedy. I was glad Leona was with me. We found a cigarette store and in a locked cupboard in the back of the store are drugs. Leona explained to the store clerk what I needed. She tried to get me to explain what I thought was the root of my headache, but I couldn’t explain that it was just too hot, too many people, slight dehydration and a very screechy lunch lady. She found something for me and I very reluctantly took it. I don’t know what it was, but within half an hour I felt fine and ready to conquer the Great wall.
The Great wall is amazing! We had a couple of hours to explore and climb. The landscape surrounding the Great wall is very beautiful. It’s mountainous covered with lush, green shrubs and trees everywhere. The wall took advantage of the natural terrain for defensive purposes following the highest points and clinging to the ridges, so now it has beautiful panoramic views. It is very steep in several places and the stairs are unevenly spaced so it can be tricky at times to walk. Here are several pictures.
The first ones show how steep some of the portions that we climbed were. 
1 comment:
The great WALL, wow! Not too many people can say they've done that!
Post a Comment