Adrenalin! It was the day which I finally see the Great Wall of China with my own eyes. All these while, I thought that it was some flat walkway nearing the Mongolia border. Indeed I was wrong. 1st, it consists of many tall flight of stairs (depends which you climbed), the one that i took was supposed to be the easiest among the 3 available and with the most tourist. the other 2 at the opposite of the road which I saw should be quite challenging as it was about 60-70degrees and least tourist. Of course we'll never be able to finish the whole wall in 1 day, as many of the parts are in ruins and it's long! What we had in Beijing have been maintained by the government as the tourist attraction spot. At least we get the feel of how previous soldiers walk (or maybe gallop on a horse) through the wall back to the Imperial palace. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China). Whomever built this, must be saluted. Climbing the flight of stairs is already challenging let alone in carrying the bricks through the mountain! The area open for tourist is limited, therefore we were only allowed to climbed up to 3 stations and the wall is sealed.
Looking out through the window
Steep steps.....
Reached the final point
Ming Tombs
Afternoon we visited the Ming Tombs where 13 of the Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried there (plus their golds, money etc and wives). Not all tombs were open for visit as the entrance for each tomb hasn't being found, only the location was known. The last emperor for Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian's tomb entrance were revealed by a small quake some time ago. The tomb we visited were of Emperor Wanli where he was buried together with his 2 Empresses, a rare happening, as only Empress who died before the Emperor were allowed to be buried together. The tomb were at least 5 storeys below ground level. The walls were built with Jade and interestingly, the temperature is maintained at 15 degrees celcius (without aircond whatsoever). Even the throne are made of Jade.
Deerhorn Cypress....nice tree
Jade throne
There were some relics on display, such as this golden thread gauze. It's real gold thread because of the shine it produce. There's one silk fabric which we saw, made of real red and black silk without any dye. The silk worms were nutured to produce the desired colour of silk! And until today, the fabric still look as great. So as this gold and red fabric.
Didn't managed to visit the Echo wall as it was under renovation.
Happy Father's Day! Our 2 tour guide and tour leader brought cake and wine for the group and the Dad's are wearing crowns...hehehehehe
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