We had a very early start today, Wednesday, May 14 for the guide to the Badaling Wall and Ming Tomb tour was to pick us up from the hotel lobby at precisely seven in the morning. We rushed through a continental breakfast at the Regency Club instead of at the usual Made in China Restaurant because the latter did not open until seven in the morning.
When we told the Club that we were going on a whole day tour to Badaling, the staff to our surprise packed us a bag of sandwiches, fruits, soda and water. We were ready!
Ces and I were the first in the tour bus. It went on to pick up an English couple Shawn and Stacy from New Castle, UK, then an Australian family of six from Melbourne and finally an English mother and daughter and an elderly gentleman from London. This is the bad thing about tour groups. You are stuck waiting for the pick up and the slackers.
This was, fortunately, a very nice and jolly small group of eager tourists from the north, middle and south of the globe!
Our tour took us to one of the 13 Ming Tombs that of Emperor Zhu Di, to the government-operated jade factory where also had a ten-course lunch of Chinese food, to the Badaling Wall and finally to the Silk Factory. With all the waiting, it was 7:30 p.m. by the time we got back to the hotel. Thank God, the guide put us in a taxi, since the other hotels was on the other side of Tmbuktu
I am acually blogging with my eyes half closed from being so tired.
The tomb Emperor Zhu Di, who moved the capital from Nanking to Peking (Beijing) and who created the Forbidden City, was laid out like the palaces of the Forbidden City. It started with an entrance gate, a courtyard, a receiving hall, another courtyard and finally the tomb with centuries old trees at the back and around the side. The receiving hall housed the artifacts of the emperor ranging from his golden eating utensils to the fine silk clothing he wore. The guide Tony was emphatic about the doorway that separated the people world and the nether world. On our way back he asked us to chant something and scrape off our clothes and body so no ghosts would leave the nether world and enter the people worldthrough anyone of us. It was so funny how we chanted out loudly at his request with so many different accentsblurting out. The local tourists surrounding us had a good laugh!
The jade factory was a startling visit. The products from small earings to the huge ship and other works were so beautiful, but very expensive. One really has to be into jade to be able to apprecitate the prizes of those jade products. I wound up buying Ces a small bracelet of various kinds and shades of jade for a "measly" price of $50. There was nothing cheap in this place!
The lunch at the jace factory surprised all of us. The tour cost each one of us $20. Yet, we had a ten-course lunch of pork, fish, beef, chicken, vegetables, soup, rice and fruits. The food was also surprisingly delicious!
The Badaling Wall was really just like the Mutianyu Wall except that there were many, many, many more people at Badaling. There was jostling around narrow passages. Ces and I could not possibly climb that almost 90 degree trek to the top of the mountain to be at the Badaling Great Wall. We rode for some $8 a go-kart shaped mechanical sled to get to the top. Once there, we stil had to take huge steps to get on the top of the wall. Expectedly, our tongues must have been dogeying in and out of our mouths as we did our best to enjoy the sight.
For the first time, I saw debris! The number of visitors...hordes of visitors...somehow littered the wall with a few empty plastic bottles here and there and a few cigarette butts and tiny pieces of paper. Still, compared to our stateside area, Badaling was still clean!
Two impressions: There are no grafitti anywhere in this city. Flowers abound just about every place where there is visible soil.
The silk factory caught my fancy. It was fascinating watching those girls demonstrate the process of producing silk and showing us the various silk products. I particularly loved the bed cover with the royal design of the emperor. The salesgirl offered me a terrific price of $500 for it with a throw in of four silk pillow cases. I must go back there after I will have paid my hotel bills and hope that I will have enough to pamper myself with a silk cover!
I don't know how this is written because I am working only with one eye now. The other is already asleep! Well, goodnight...I'll see you tomorrow!
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