The Great Wall and Ming Tombs

Today was another early day.  Rachel woke up at 2:30am.  We tried to stay in the bed, but by 3:45 she and I went and sat outside the room.  We did some school work and then she wrote in her journal while I blogged.

At 5:00am we went back in the room to shower and get ready for the day.

We went to the Mutianyu area of the Great Wall.  We were able to take a lift up to the top of the wall.  I was a bit nervous as there was not much to the lift, a wooden bench.  Basically they told us to sit back and off we went.  There was a bar that went in front of us, but nothing that latched it down.  Rachel and Elise could very easily have slid right out.  We were up above the tree tops and had an excellent view.  I will post pictures later because we took our other camera with the zoom lens and are unable to download them now. 

It was very foggy and smoggy so I hope that the photos turn out.  

We left our hotel at 6:30am and arrived at The Wall at 8:30am.  It was wonderful.  There were very few people there at that time.  When we left at 10:30am there was a crowd of people.

We were able to walk all around and get some great photos.  The weather was perfect.  It was amazing to see the view, to hear the history, and to know that you were walking where millions of people had walked before.  The architecture was unbelievable.  

We then went to the Ming Tombs.  We learned about the emperor and how he lived.  We learned the emperor's tomb would be built while he was still alive and then they would hold a feast there when it was finished. We saw artifacts that have been unearthed from the tomb.  There were gold dishes, jade jewelry and crowns.  

From there we went to a local place to eat noodles.  No one spoke a word of english.  Luckily there were noodles, because we didn't recognize anything else.  The menu was in Chinese with no pictures.  Basically we pointed to what someone else was eating and said "we want that".  We got a bit nervous about the raw greens and lettuce with brown sauce and passed that on to our guide.  We ordered the noodles and ate them, but as we got to the bottom of the bowl, it was filled with water.  I hope that it had boiled long enough, or all four of us will be feeling it later.  There was a "chicken?" dish that tasted really good, but we had to pick around the raw scallions and possibly cucumbers?.

Elise said that she wanted to go to the bathroom before we made our two hour drive back to the hotel.  I asked where the bathroom was in Chinese and she pointed outside.  When the girls and I stepped outside our guide approached us.  I told him that we were going to the bathroom before we left.  He pointed to a small building and said "take care".  

It was basically a small concrete outhouse, about the size of a port a potty.  Rachel wouldn't even step through the door.  Elise stepped in and said "I can wait an hour."  I told her it would be two hours and she said she would try.  We rolled up her pant legs and she took a deep breath.  We walked in and the smell about knocked us down.  I don't know how we did it, but she went to the bathroom and we got out.  As we were walking back to the car, Robbie said he was going to go to the bathroom.  We pointed him in the direction and went on to the car.  I couldn't let him miss out on this opportunity.  When he got in the car he honestly looked green.  He looked at me and said "how in the world....".  Rachel said "I didn't even go in, it was disgusting!"

It was a hole in the mud (I hope it was mud), with a piece of porcelain around it.  There was a bucket next to it with used tissues in it(if you had thought ahead to bring your own toilet paper).  Nothing else was in there and there was no running water or plumbing of any kind.  

  

Addendum from Robbie: NO Christine, that was not mud!!! When I told Christine I also needed to go to the bathroom, all she said was "that was an experience". That was such an understatement. I would never have believed it had I not "experienced" it myself. How Elise managed to squat in position, I will never understand. All I had to do was stand from a distance and do my business - which was difficult to say the least while holding back multiple gag reflexes  and laughing myself silly at the same time!