The Great Wall

Truly the Great Wall is just that. Great. Even with the rainy day, it is an awesome sight. I remembered my niece Beth telling me that you had two options-that one was more crowded and the other much harder. I now understand! We chose the same path she did as the other way was just solid people. Jim and I walked until we almost reached the 3rd guardpost. By then some of the other tour members had been up to it and said we should not try the last bit and with the fog so thick, you could not see anything up there for the most part. So we were content to have gone that far and held dearly to the rails going back down the steps and slopes. I was so proud of Jim that he did that much! It was not easy for a healthy person much less one with a herniated disc! His trusty cane/seat has just been invaluable. I think everyone on the trip gives him the courage award. But to be on the Great Wall and to see it stretch for miles and the beauty of the area, is just an awesome experience! Steven our guide said the rain adds a mystical quality and it truly does. We naturally would have preferred to see it on a bright sunny day, but you take what you are given and I am just so grateful to have had this experience! We had lunch at the dept store buffet when we finished and it was quite good and gave us longer to shop the markets and stores there at the entrance. We all got the obligatory "I climbed the Great Wall" tshirts and some of the fancy hats and the fake Prada bags. GCT has a deal with a local chop maker and so we had some of those done too. We stopped on the way to the wall at a cloisonne factory -the oldest one in the area and it was very interesting to see how that is made. Their things were beautiful with price tags to match. I did find a really neat small tiger that I will treasure from the trip.

After lunch, we went to the Ming tombs and gardens and it was also something we enjoyed. The misty day was much cooler than we've had on the trip and so it was quite nice. Most of us shed the $1 ponchos we either brought or bought and just let the sprinkles come. The Sacred Way was beautiful with the animals and guards, the grass and landscaping. At the end, I watched a small herd of goats prance around near our bus and the goat man with his stick was keeping them in check.

All over one thing that has surprised me is how much labor is done manually with simple tools. things that we take for granted will be helped along by trench diggers or bulldozers, they usually have a lot of people out just doing it with a shovel. Today we saw about 20 workers sweeping the water from the street using the old straw brooms. It is just an interesting difference.