Beijing Day 2

The reception we have received from the people of China, has been unbelievable. They have been such gracious hosts, and are so excited to see us. From the street vendors yelling "HELLO, 5! 5!...5, yuan!...HELLO! How much? How much?" haha.... to the tour guides, to the workers at the restaurants and hotels...to the people on the street that stare at us along the way as we stare back...(usually both sharing big smiles once we realize we are both staring at each other), they are just warm, sweet people over all. There have been several times when something will happen that will all the sudden bring tens of not hundreds towards us as if we are some sort of celebrities...or we are drawn to hundreds and then somehow end up in the middle of all of them...again...as some sort of new thing from far away. It is all a wonderful experience. The children really tend to be so curious about us. The little girl in the picture above was in a bus next to ours, and she kept pressing against the window of her bus staring at all of us in some sort of amazement. I quickly snapped a picture and it caught her off guard at first, then after a couple of pictures taken...she flashed this mischievous smile at me. People wave at us from other buses all the time. Wanting us to wave back and smile....etc. Again it just wonderful.


Our second day in Beijing started out visiting a JADE FACTORY. Jade is becoming more and more rare as the mines aren't producing as much, and no new jade mines are being discovered.

In China it is a very valuable stone. Women and men both wear jade for good health and good luck. Women will wear their jade jewelry, such as a bracelet ("bangle") or ring on the left arm/hand. They do this because they believe that the minerals that have processed the jade throughout the jade's long life in the ground, is good for them...so they wear it on the same side of the body as the heart. The craftsmen of jade or also become fewer and fewer, as young people leave their rural homes and move into the cities. It is a skill that is traditionally handed down from father to son...etc. It is truly amazing.
We then visited on our rainy, foggy (yes fog not smog for a change) morning...the Ming Tombs.
They are designed with Feng Shui. Which deals with the harmony of a location. It is in a valley that allows mountains to guard it from wind following in and bringing bad energy in and good energy out...there are rivers flowing through the area that allow good things to constantly be brought into it...it was a beautiful place. The whole morning was much more relaxing because there were fewer people around...kept away by the rainy weather. It was nice to not have so many people around for awhile.

My favorite part of the Ming Tombs was the Sacred Way. This is a walk up to the Ming Tombs. There are several statues of various Ming emperors, and then there are rows of animals along the walk. There are two sets of each type of animal...dragon, camel, elephant...etc. The first two sets of the animals are standing...and then the second set of the animal is kneeling...this is to give the effect that as the emperor walked through the animals would see him, and then in the second set, they would be kneeling to him. It was raining pretty hard as we walked through...and there was NO ONE else there but our group. It was simply stunning in the rain, and so peaceful.

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a great man."- Mao

We then went to lunch and headed to the Great Wall of China. We went to the Badaling part of the Wall. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Again we were there on a rainy, foggy day.