After all popping awake at about 3:30 A.M. Beijing time and trying to be quiet in the room until 6:30 A.M. when the breakfast buffet began, we met up with our tour guide Andy. Our first stop was the Ming Tombs. We were told not to take pictures inside to show respect as it is a burial area, so we were obedient as we watched hundreds of disrespectful Chinese citizens take hundreds of pictures. Oh well. I bought postcards outside and took a picture outside the gate. It was a tomb. It was muggy, it was a pretty area chosen by the late emperors as their burial ground because of good fung schway (don't remember how to spell this). We then visited a Jade factory and store and spent a few $$. 
It was then time for lunch and we went to eat at a restaurant that is named after the men who used to work at the docks pulling in ships. The food was very good and we tried some new things;
Candied Lotus Root and Eggs with Fungus, Beijing Style.
After lunch we headed for the Great Wall. We went to the section that is less visited by foreign tourists. The Mutianyu section. It is a little farther from town but worth the drive. The drive is beautiful as you go through orchards and farming areas and up into the mountains. At the wall we took a ski lift up to the wall.
The wall is amazing. If the sky is more clear you can see how it goes on forever. Many areas have been restored so visitors can walk on it, but a lot of sections are still eroded and original. The history is amazing and humbling when you think of how many men spent their whole lives building and working at the wall to protect China.
After walking around on the wall the best part was how we got down. They have a toboggan ride so you can go down fast and in style. The boys thought this was the best and it is much longer than the Alpine slide at Park City if you have been there. All the boys took it fast and got yelled at along the way to SLOW DOWN but since they couldn't understand the workers they kept going fast. So did our guide so I guess it was safe, after all they made us buy insurance with our tickets. Mom obeyed the signs and came up in the rear nice and slow.
We paid 10 RMB to these two guys posing as ancient soldiers for this cool picture with the boys.
We paid 10 RMB to these two guys posing as ancient soldiers for this cool picture with the boys.
We enjoyed the ride back to town (most of us took naps) the views were nice. 
We ended our long day at the acrobat show which is amazing. And then we ventured out to eat McDonald's. It was lotus root and fungus free and a little more familiar. We did try the pineapple pies. YUM
The boys on the over street walkway in Beijing.
ANDREWS TAKE ON THE DAY: Riding the toboggan was cool, it was neat to walk on the Great Wall. Eating with chopsticks was fun and the acrobat show was way cool.
ZACHARY'S COMMENTS: I bought a lucky necklace with my Chinese Zodiac symbol the rabbit. The coolest thing that happened is that I walked on the Great Wall of China. The toboggan ride was really awesome. The acrobat show was also one of the best things. I got some free pieces of raw jade that I might polish.
