China Day 4

Wednesday started out a bit slower than the day before.  Our first stop of the day was a jade store.  We were educated in telling the difference between real and fake jade and even the different qualities of jade.  Of course we were given time to shop, but I didn't buy anything...it was all very pretty but also very expensive.  Some of the ladies in our group dropped $800 on some jade bangles! 

This is one solid piece of jade that was hand carved:

After the jade store, we went to walk along the Sacred Way of Ming Tombs.  We didn't visit any of the tombs (we were told it wasn't worth the walk), but strolled along the Sacred Way to look at the stone sculptures of officials, animals, and mythical beasts.

This is the entrance:

Inside the entrance was this turtley guy.  The Chinese, being very superstitious, believed that if you rubbed his head that you would have nothing to worry about.

Of course, after rubbing the head, you should also rub the tail so that you would be "fit as a fiddle".

There were 2 pairs of each animal, one sitting and one standing.  Our tour guide said it was so they could switch off to get get so tired as they guarded the tombs.

Our lunch this day was at a local hot pot restaurant.  We were each given a boiling pot of water to add/cook a collection of foods including strips of goose meat, spinach, lettuce, egg, mushrooms, noodles, and tofu.

After lunch, we went to the Great Wall!

I climbed all the way to the highest point you see there.

The steps are not all that even and some of the stones had been worn down quite a bit.  Some places were more of a casual stroll while others you had to lean so far forward to stay upright that you could touch the ground in front of you.  I had to use the railings in some parts.  Some steps were as deep as my legs.  It was quite the workout.

This is me at the top after conquering the Great Wall.  I'm looking a little frustrated in these pictures as Michael started taking my picture without explaining what he was trying to capture behind me.  It didn't seem like the best place for a photo.

At the end with Michael, about to rejoin our group.

After the wall, we went back to our hotel and we all got a Chinese massage.  It was very nice, but interesting because the masseuses didn't speak much English.  Dani and I could tell they were trying to figure out if I was her daughter or not, they eventually ended up asking if we were friends.