The Great Wall and Ming Tombs!

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Today was our day to see the Great Wall of China! Unfortunately the traffic was horrible in the mountains and came to a standstill for about 2 hours because of a wreck but we got there and climbed it! We went to the Ba Da Ling entrance and climbed the highest side (you can go left or right). I had no idea how steep some parts of the wall are but I guess it has to be since its on top of a mountain. Some of the ramparts we walked were so steep that not many people would even try them, but we went all the way to the end (they block off some of the wall, so we came to one of these parts). It was great, probably my favorite place in China so far. We had a spectacular view of the mountains and the fog cleared almost completely by the first hour on the wall. I wanted to do the other side but we didn't have time since we had to see the Ming Tombs today too. It was a great experience. If I ever come back, the first place I'll go is the Great Wall.

The Ming Tombs were cool too. First we walked down a long pathway with animal statues on either side, dragons, lions, elephants, camels, and more. Then as you progress they have statues of different soldiers and messengers for the king. Then finally after that, you get to the tombs. Unfortunately, only one is open to the public. The other 12 haven't been excavated yet because China doesn't have the technology to do it without the chance of damaging what's inside. The Ming tombs were close to the Ba Da Ling entrance to the Great Wall, so they're also in the mountains. The tomb we saw was the 13th Emperor of the Ming dynasty. We went deep into the mountain to his tomb where they have a replica of his coffin where his actual coffin was found. He was buried next to his two Empresses (one died, then he remarried), and a lot of treasure was also buried with him. They also had his throne inside the tomb which was cool to see. A lot of Chinese people had thrown money on it so it was covered in Mao Zedong's face.

I didn't write an entry for yesterday because we went to see Mao Zedong's body, only to find it's not open on Mondays. 😞 So we're going to that tomorrow. They don't allow you to photograph his body (that's a little creepy anyways) so I won't have too many pictures. Don't know if it could top today though!

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Photos

Photo 8
I couldn't capture exactly how steep it was, just trust me

not the great wall- this was at the tombs
nice view of the mountains