Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Great Wall of China


One of the main reasons for choosing Beijing as our final Asia destination was to see the great wall. After consulting some friends who just went, we decided to go to the Mutianyu part of the wall because it was less touristy and it had an alpine slide you ride back down to the bottom of the mountain!

Though the weather stated that the temp would be in the 60's, after we arrived at the wall it started to pour down snow. It was quite an experience to see the wall during this weather. Yes, it would have been nice to see the wall in the spring when everything is green but our guide said that he has never seen snow at the wall in his 4 years of going there so we thought that was pretty cool. The picture above was taken by an Austrian couple that we met in Beijing.




We rode a ski lift to the top of the hill to where the wall was located. We have NO warm clothes coming from 90 degree weather so we had to buy some hats to keep us warm.


Jenna on the Great Wall when we first got up there. The snow had just stopped falling.


The view was great as you can see. We wished we could have seen it in Spring as it would be green everywhere!

Climbing up the steep Great Wall. We were both so sore the next day...looks like maybe we need to workout more!


Alpine Slide Video's- Jenna rode down at a slow pace but I wanted to go FAST!

We really enjoyed climbing the Great Wall as its a part of history and a great wonder of the world! We would def. recommend a trip to the Great Wall if you have the chance.

We went to a silk factory where they make quilts. I hate these tours to where they making shopping stops at certain factories to where the tour company gets a portion of the profits. Needless to say, we did buy a silk comforter for our bed. It was hard because I knew I was paying a premium but we really liked it.

We bought one of these Jade "Family Balls". It is one piece of jade that contains 4 or 5 moveable jade balls in it -- all in 1 piece. They are pretty cool and they say it is a family secret. It must not be a good secret because you see them all over the souveneir shops.


Our last stop was the Ming Tombs where the 13 emporers are buried. Only 1 tomb has been opened, all the others are still untouched.

1 comment:

Sarah and Jeremy said...

Wow that looks amazing! I can't wait to go see that! (Really glad I didn't go while prego, i don't think I could have made it up all those stairs!) How is it being back in America?? And wearing warm clothes, i bet that was strange! Can't wait to hear about your adventures in Florida! miss you Jenna!!!

 
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