This morning we started tai chi lessons with Mei. We went through the first four moves of the Yang School. There were four or five of us. It wasn't very graceful, but a good start. Then had breakfast and headed out to the Great Wall at Jin Shan Ling, a section sometimes referred to as the "Wild Great Wall" as it is not overly restored and has few visitors. The wall was placed on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage sites in 1987. It took more than 2000 years to build, beginning in the 7th century BC and continuing through many dynasties until it reached 5660 kilometers during the Ming Dynasty. "The wall hugs the contours of the terrain and as it climbs up and down the mountains, it keeps changing in height and width and building material. Gate-towers are built atop the wall for guarding and lodging purposes, passes are found at spots of vital strategic importance, and signal towers are set at intervals so that smoke or fire signals were relayed to the army command in Beijing in times of emergency." (from The Great Wall World Cultural Heritage Site).
After about a three hour drive on a glorious sunny day
we arrived at the gondola station.
It was a 17 minute ride up the hill to the wall access.
And then up a short trail to the Wall.
and after a short climb up some
very steep steps we had this view
of the watchtowers stretching out
along the distant mountains!
We're really here!
The pictures don't do it justice!
Parts of it were a little dicey...
but what a magnificent site!
We had our lunch on the wall and after several hours
of wandering we headed back down on the gondola.
This farmer was just coming in from his field.
We had a wonderful ride back to town and then a little free time before we headed to dinner at the hotel. What an incredible adventure and we couldn't have asked for a better day! And the air quality at the wall was wonderful.
After dinner we attended the Beijing Opera, which "uses brilliant costumes, mannerized makeup, acrobatics, martial arts, falsetto singing and exuberant percussion". There were three different selections...all very different. A fun way to end the day!
This story is about 2 men trying to find each other in the dark...funny!
This one had incredible acrobatics with the sticks! It was great!
Wonderful day!
