Ming Tombs

We headed to the Ming Tombs after lunch. This is the resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming Dynasty Emperors. This dynasty reigned from 1368-1644. The tombs are spread out over 15 square miles and it is absolutely amazing to see the architecture and effort put forth for the tombs of these men. This land was actually chosen because of the feng shui element. It has mountains surrounding the tombs on three sides which is believed to protect the tombs from the evil spirits carried with the north wind.





The entrance of one of the tombs.

Hair Pins

Belts made of jade.

Emperess Crown

Gate to Heaven. It is believed that once we cross through that gate that we have left earth and entered into heaven.

We couldn't go to the actual tomb, it is closed to the public. But we were told that it is somewhere behind this fence among the trees.

These trees were seriously growing out of the wall. It was so cool!

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

So awesome!

Random Pics of Beijing

They called the restrooms "toilets" in China. I've been told that they are called toilets in many other countries too.

This is what the local toilets look like. Luckily they had western toilets in almost every bathroom I used. Because you know I needed to use the bathroom all the time!!!

I only had to use this kind of toilet once. But it was fun to experience it.

This is the amazing spa in our hotel. The only way I can describe it is almost like it was a huge spa separated into different sections, each one focusing on a different body part.

You lay on your stomach on the ground and let this high pressure waterfall massage your back!

Foot massagers.

Can you see the little feet shapes in the bottom of the spa...so funny!

Full body massager

Butt massager??? I'm not quite sure :)

Another view of part of the spa.

After the Ming Tombs, we drove past some of the Olympic Buildings on our way to the Silk Factory. Unfortunately, we only had the chance to drive past them and not walk around them. But it was still cool seeing them!

Olympic Village

Water Cube

With the Birds Nest in the background.

The Birds Nest.

What an amazing building!

Two buildings that just looked cool!

After the Silk Factory, we were FINALLY able to convince our tour guide to take us to a good market to shop. He kept taking us to the expensive places that wouldn't let us haggle very much...probably because he was making a commission off of these places. We only had about 40 minutes to shop, but those 40 minutes ranked second on my favorite parts of the trip...the Great Wall being first!!

The shopping almost reminded Matt and I of Mexico. It was almost like shopping in the little markets there, if any of you have ever been, you can imagine. We seriously could have shopped in there for hours! I'm sad we didn't have the chance to buy more stuff for friends and family. Oh well. At least we got to experience a little bit of it, right?!

We had such an amazing vacation! A huge THANKS to the Calls for watching Rian while Matt and I enjoyed a little vacation together! You guys are awesome!!

Beijing: Day Two

We were so happy to get back to our hotel room the first night, take a nice shower and hit the sack. However, it turns out the sack was as hard as a rock. Our hotel was actually pretty nice, but sleeping on that bed felt like we were sleeping on a box spring. Nonetheless, we were so exhausted, so it didn't bother us too much :)

Day two started with a quick skype with Rian :) And then breakfast at the hotel. Soon we were off for our long day of sightseeing!!!

I'm still so amazed at how grand these sights are. The pictures do not to it justice. These landmarks cover miles upon miles of land. We walked, and walked, and walked. It was just amazing!!!

Summer Palace

I was really excited to go to the Summer Palace. The pictures we saw of it before we went there were amazing. But of course, the visibility was horrible, so it wasn't quite as nice as the pictures we saw in our book. But it was still fun to see!



The Summer Palace was a retreat for the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties during the hot summer months. It's located on a private lake.

The view when we first walked in the entrance.

The group at the entrance.

Guardian Lion. One of the many we saw. You can tell this one is the female because of the little cub under her left paw.

Guardian Lions again.

The visibility was bad (surprise, surprise!) but there are some pretty cool buildings across the lake.

Zoomed in.

A large group gathered together for some Tai Chi. Our tour guide says they meet there all the time.

This grass was collected from the bottom of the lake. They use it to feed the pigs.

There were tons of people who would dip their large paint brushes into water and write on the grounds. These are not Chinese characters. I forget what language it is, but I absolutely loved it! I just think it looks so cool!

This is where on of the Emperors was held prisoner during his rein.

Oh and the guy in yellow is our tour guide, Stanley :)

A view through the window into the living quarters of the 'prisoner'.

His bed.

If you look closely, you can see the outline of the door that used to exist before they turned the building into the Emperor's Prison.

We loved the details on the beams!

Big bonsai tree.

Entrance to the Long Corridor.

This hallway went on for so long. The beams and ceilings have over 14,000 paintings!

It was kind of crowded that day!

Here I am in the hallway :)

Pretty

Part of the beams and the bottom half of the ceiling. So cool!

This guy asked to take a picture with Matt. I was cracking up! I can imagine this guy saying to his friend, 'Look a tall white guy! I want a picture with him!' Ha Ha!

Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha. We didn't climb up there.

A very decorative gate. That's the lake behind it.

The decorative gate with me under it and the tower in the background.

I loved this picture because it shows the curve in the Long Corridor.

How awesome does this look?!

The group in the Long Corridor.

The Marble Boat.

Here is Percy next to the dragon boat we took across the lake.

I was so happy when I found out we would be riding this! It even has a tail on the back of the boat :)

View from the boat.

Another view from the boat.