China - The Great Wall of China & Emperors Tomb
At 8 o clock your private tour guide and driver pulled up to the hotel parking lot. Today the plan is to visit the Great Wall of China and a few other historic sites.
The first three days of this trip we spent in Beijing, visiting various attractions.
Yesterday we visited the Temple of Heaven, just south of our hotel next to the Forbidden City.
Today we're on a guided tour to the Juyong Pass to see the Great Wall of China. After the wall, we're going to see the Ming Dynasty Tombs.
Tomorrow, we're going to the "main" attractions of the city, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.
It's already 25 degrees and the sun is out in full force. The stairs turn out to be incredibly steep and there's not a great amount of shade. The tour guide opted to stay near the car and gave us an hour to an hour and a half to wander around. Our (self-imposed) mission was to see how far we could make it up the wall.
As we climb higher up the wall, the crowds start to diminish. Most only make it to the first tower before heading back. Eventually we're all alone on the wall.
In the distance you can see the outskirts of Beijing.
We finally made it to the top! It took a good hour to climb this far.
This was our first time in Asia, and also the first time booking tours, which we did on, I believe, TripAdvisor.
The tour took us to the Great Wall and to the Ming Dynasty Tombs, wich lunch in between (at what can only be described as a giftshop with food, though the food was great!). And I believe we did a Tea Ceremony at the end.
The "problem" with these tours is mostly they want you to buy things, but being at the start of a month-long trip, we didn't feel like dragging more weight along on day one.
There Great Wall is... great, which means there are many places to see/visit it and the one we booked isn't necessarily the most beautiful spot you can see from Beijing.
If you're planning to see the wall I'd recommend doing a bit of research to see what options to see the wall are available and what to book.
For example I'd love to have done this tour by Claire. Then again, I'm still quite happy with what we say and it's a great reason to go back some day :).
From across the river you can see the various lookout/signal towers.
There's a nice quiet temple(?) at the bottom, nice to catch our breath before we headed to the next destination.
After getting dinner we head out to visit the next site. The Ming Dynasty Tombs. Depending on the mood of your tour guide, you can either start at the tombs, or at the other end, called The Spirit Way. One of the few places of the emperor wasn't carried but had to walk himself.
The "Way" is lined with various animals, either sitting or standing.
The spirit walk is the first part of making our way to the Tomb of China's first emperor.
Open for public, the main building of the Changling Tomb building houses a museum and a Copper Statue of Emperor Zhu Di. Among the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, he made the greatest impact on History
During his reign, the Ming empire reached it's peak. After his demise, another 12 tombs were build for the emperors after him, but this one is the best preserved.
We're at the right place!
Behind the main building lies the actual Tomb, you can take a path up the tomb for a nice view.
Inside the tomb, you can see the grave.
After a bathroom break it was time to head back to the city.
The (obligatory) tea ceremony took place near the Olympic Pool, which was in the news all the time. We took a small detour to see it in person.
Yep.. That's a pool! After the detour we went back to our hotel for dinner and a nice relaxing evening in the gardens of the hotel.
China - Temple of Heaven
China - The Great Wall of China & Emperors Tomb
China - Summer Palace & The Forbidden City
South Korea - Gwangjang market, Cheonggyecheon and Dongdaemun Design Plaza
South Korea - Gyeongbokgung Palace, The War Memorial and Banpo Bridge
South Korea - North Korea (Panmunjeom) & N Seoul Tower
Japan - Shinjuku
SKYTREE, Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara
Shinjuku - Ginza - Tsukiji Fish market - Meiji Jingu - Shibuya - Omotesando