Wednesday, May 26 – The Great Wall, Ming Tomb Underground Palace, Beijing Jade Factory, Jin Dian Cloisonne Factory, and hotpot dinner

Today is particularly exciting because we will be visiting the Great Wall of China! We will be entering Badaling 八达岭, the most visited section of the Great Wall. The weather is not so great, once again, and we might be expecting a little rain later in the afternoon. Nonetheless, today's trip is an exciting one.

Our first stop is the Beijing Jade Factory, where tourists can see how jade sculptures are made, and purchase some jade sculptures and jewelry.

jade sculptures on sale - all are made in this factory

a gorgeous jade basin with goldfish carving

a jade Kwan Yin, bodhisattva and goddess of mercy

jade lion?

another gorgeous jade basin with goldfish carving

haha

look at all the little people!

grab a goat by its horns

sand painting - basically he fills a tube with colored sand and "paints" with it

Next stop and highlight of the day, the Great Wall. When we got there, I was overwhelmed by the breathtaking scenery - lush, green mountains, a little fog, and of course, the miles and miles of stone bricks that make up the Great Wall. We were given two choices of paths to go "hiking" in; one path is the so-called "easier" path that most people take, since it is smoother and less steep. The other is terrifyingly steep, but offers a much more beautiful view of the landscape. Of course, I wanted to drag my dad to the steeper path, but decided to take the other to "test the waters". I did not realize that even this "easier" way is not so easy after all.

the entrance

 says something about entering the first gate

climbing the first few steps

...more steps

barely there and already exhausted

oh joy, how it feels to be thousands of meters above sea level

panorama view

this picture was difficult to take; I had to lie down on the ground, since the steps were so high

so exhausted...

jumping in joy because we reached the end of the path - first attempt

second attempt - success

a random room

walking back to the starting point

doing something dangerous (?)

look I'm the Monkey King!

then I dragged my dad to walk the steeper path...he reluctantly agreed

reads something about manliness?

someone looks exhausted

found a little room

After a good workout at the Great Wall, we were off to the Ming Tombs and the Jin Dian Cloisonne Factory. I didn't take pictures at the Ming Tombs, because it is disrespectful to the dead and supposedly unlucky to do so (I'm quite superstitious).The Cloisonne Factory was interesting, since we got to see how people create cloisonne vases.

gluing the pieces onto the bronze vase to create hollow "pictures"

cloisonne is a highly detailed art

using a picture guide to make the small pieces to be glued on

initial painting by filling in pigments onto the hollow pictures from before - the vases will then be polished

finished products

a beautiful cloisonne ship; a gift to someone important

snake talking to a turtle?

Visited a farm for a few minutes afterwards. Too bad the peaches and cherries are not ripe yet.

Then visited the Bao Shu Tong Pharmaceutical Company, creator of the famous Bao Fu Ling camphor cream, which is great for muscle pain and insect bites (perfect for my 23 mosquito bites!)

founder of Bao Shu Tong

Had hotpot dinner to finish off the day. Fancy meat was fancy.