It was another scorching day so we really appreciated the air conditioned car. It was quite smoggy in Beijing this morning, and good to get out of the city.
We drove first to the Ming Tombs, which are usually about an hour out of Beijing. But as this is a holiday weekend for the Dragon Boat Festival, traffic was heavy and it took longer. The location of the tombs was selected for auspicious feng shui, including the encompassing mountains with water running through the site.
Thirteen Ming emperors were buried there between 1420s-1644, along with their empresses and, for the first five Ming emperors, their unfortunate surviving concubines who were buried alive. Each tomb had its own complex with walls, gates, stelae, gardens and an underground palace which included tombs, marble thrones, documents, textiles, jewelry, gold implements and other artifacts necessary for a proper funeral.
Dragon and phoenix symbols, representing the emperor and empress, are everywhere.
The Dangling tomb that we visited was built by and for the 13th Ming emperor. It was excavated in the 1950s after exploratory tunnels located a directional stone. Fearing traps had been sent against intruders, the archeologists put a rooster and a sheep into the tomb and when they emerged unscathed, they knew it was safe to continue. The treasures and preserved body of the emperor that were found astonished the world, but several items, including the emperor, did not survive well when exposed to oxygen and no further tombs have been excavated.
Headgear with dragons and phoenixes.
The drive to our lunch stop was lovely as we climbed into the mountains and passed though picturesque agrarian villages with occasional glimpses of the Great Wall snaking across the hills. There were dozens of vendors along the road with carts attached with buckets of cherries for sale. If only we'd had a way to keep them chilled until we were on our way back to Beijing!
After lunch we finally arrived at the Mutienyu section of the Great Wall. It was amazing! The wind had swept away the omnipresent haze and we could see forever.
Looking towards watchtower 14
About 5 miles of the Wall have been restored here, and one can also see a stretch of unrestored wall which is overgrown with foliage between the walls.
Unrestored section
For better or worse, I was determined to hike to watchtower 1 for the view back and to get a closer look at the unrestored section. It was SO hot, 97 humid degrees, full sun and nowhere to buy water. The walls felt like a pizza stone. It was necessary to make many many stops to catch my breath, which allowed ample time to think about reach exceeding grasp. I did make it, but will not be doing this again.
Descending from the Wall involved either another long hot walk or the modern accelerated transportation system (kind of like the bullet train). We opted for the latter.
It was a memorable, if tiring, day. We'd highly recommend the tour company to anyone looking for a guide or advice on things to do and eat around Beijing.
Fun fact: Found my Beijing KFC (my initials)
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