Spell of the Wild

11 April: Our guide, Sveta, picks us up at 11am. Our luggage will follow in another vehicle, we think. An hour later we are in Irkutsk with a couple of hours before check-in time at the Railway station. While everyone else explores a large market, I get inside a large parka with a fleece liner and stay in the van. The fever and chills are back. Even though the outside temperature is below freezing, the sun shining brightly on the van and shoppers moving lively in all directions make for a pleasant wait. Oh yes, Irkutsk looks much better on this sunny day than it did in the dreary drizzle of our arrival day.

Good-bye to Sveta and hello to Train #9 to Moscow. Three nights and four days westward will put us in the capital of this huge country. Our compartments are very nice, two berths and clean. There is a dining car and our car has a pay-shower — WONDERFUL!

The next four days we will be passing through rolling mostly flat forests; mostly birch and some pine with many lakes, much like northern Minnesota.

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Today we’re off to some markets and on to the train station. On our way back to Irkutsk, we stopped at the same little zoo the Johnson’s visited yesterday. Saw a BIG brown bear and a Mongolian Yak (hairy beast). We went into Irkutsk to do some shopping. Tried to go to a fur factory, but because it is owned by the government, it is only open Monday through Friday, and this is Saturday. We went on down to the main shopping market district. We passed the Chinese market and stopped at a department store district. Across the street were a few fur stores, so we checked them out. I trid on several jackets, a couple of which I really liked, but they were too small. We got on our train to Moscow at 4:00PM. I had a good supper of salad and soup. Nice day! Fran

10 April: Sometime in the arly morning, my fever broke; a hot shower, a couple more hours of sleep and it’s time for breakfast. Today I feel a thousand percent better but still not up to 100% (don’t do the math). Today is a free day, so a good opportunity to catch up on journal entries that have fallen about one week behind. Meanwhile, Jerry and Linda, Steve and Jennifer arranged an impromtu visit to a local dairy farm.

Betty has been doing battle with both the local tour company, Irkutsk Baikal Travel, and the larger, Travel and Visa Pro, which is organizing all our travel in Russia and Mongolia. They are refusing to pay for either a larger vehicle or a separate vehicle for luggage. It seems that we will also have a similar small van in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. She has sent emails outlining the problem since we arrived in Ulan Bataar and was on the phone half an hour last night with Kestutis – our US representative in San Francisco. I think they have reached some compromise. Fortunately members of our group have a great attitude, are really flexible, and are willing to kick in a few more dollars if neccesary. Betty – we did reach a compromise and Kestutis and I agreed to split the bill for the extra, larger transporation. He has been very good to work with and we would use he and his company again were we to return. We’ve traveled in Russia twice before and I can tell you that the tour operator can make a big difference because Russia is not an easy place to travel.
Good news – I am caught up on my journal entries. Bad news – the fever and chills are back; I continue to vegetate.

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Today is sunny and a bit windy. After a VERY ROUGH night, I had a bit of breakfast and went out to explore the market with Betty and Charlotte. I bought a bracelet and ring of the Siberian stone – charoit. The Johnsons and Johnsons went to visit a farm. They really had a great tour. Went to a farm specializing in raising dairy cows, to a zoo, to a farm house, etc. Chuck was catching up his journal and trying to get over his plague. We leave tomorrow for Irkutsk where we will catch the train to Moscow. Fran

9 April: This morning the frozen lake glistened white under clear skies and bright sun.
We visited the Wood Architecture Museum. Early wood homes, churches, schools, stables and other out buildings from all over Siberia have been moved to this location. This was an outdoor exhibit and temps were just below freezing but sunny, normally a great day for a walk through the woods. However, I was feeling worse with each hour, by lunchtime I was having cold chills. It was a great lunch; the first time I have had borch that I liked. After lunch I asked the guide to drop me off at the hotel. I piled lots of blankets on the bed and spent the afternoon and all night trying to stay warm.

Here is what I was told I missed: Lake Baikal museum and the world’s only fresh water seals, a chair-lift to the top of the mountain with great views, a tour of St. Nicholas Church, dinner at the hotel, and an evening at the local market and other spontaneous events. Betty: He not only missed the chair lift to the top of the mountain, but our guide brought vodka and home-made pickles and taught us a very important ritual to chase away bad spirits. We all enjoyed the ritual and the “spirits”.

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A much nicer day – weatherwise! The sun is out, and the wind has died down. We start the day with a visit to Taltsy – a museum of wooden architecture. In this place of several acres along the river, several buildings have been brought in and reconstructed to show the history of the people of Siberia. Many of the buildings were located in flood zones or in risk of being destroyed, so they had been removed to this place. We saw the tee pee type structures of the earliest nomadic people, the compounds built once agriculture turned them away from their wandering – a mill house, a school house still in use in the 20th century, two churches, etc. This “museum” also has little tourist shops, education centers, and space for markets.
Then we go to lunch at a local restaurant. It was great. We started with a salad, then borsht, fried fresh fish and vegetables, and finally ice cream and fruit. Chuck left us after lunch. He is afflicted with a horrible cold or maybe the flu. After lunch we went to the Museum of Lake Baikal. This museum is also a research center where scientists continue research into the whole ecosystem of the lake. The museum has several aquariums one of which had two fresh water seals swimming in it. They were so much fun to watch – swimming and playing, poking thir heads through the hole in the ice, then peaking at us starring up through the water.
When we finished up at the museum we took a cable car to the top of a mountain overlooking the lake and drank a toast to the spirits of the place with a shot of vodka provided by our guide. This was the beginning of an evening of hard partying for me, and when I thought I was ALL DONE—–,a Russian gentleman asked me if he could buy me some presents (Want a cookie, little girl?). SOOOOO, cognac, vodka, champagne, and chocolate were laid out on the bar, and we celebrated an era of friendship – sort of. I paid a heavy price for my efforts to improve relations with our Russian friends. Fran

At 8:10am we arrive in Irkutsk, Russia. It is a cold bleak day and, I think, a cold bleak city. Our new guide, Sveta, met us at the train station with two vehicles, one for the luggage and one for us. We had a tour of Irkutsk, not too impressive: some memorials to those who explored and helped open this north-eastern portion of Asia. Very much like Alaska and extreme northern Canada, Siberia was a mostly unknown wasteland until mid-nineteenth century. Also revered are those who pushed the Trans-Siberian Railway into existance, linking Moscow with Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean and later with Beijing.

A bright spot in the early morning tour of Irkutsk was the “Decemberist Museum”. On 26 December 1825 a small group of aristocratic army officers and elite families in St. Petersburg attempted to overthrow Tsarist rule during the confusion after Alexander I died and before a successor took charge. Of course, they were no match for the Russian Army; about 50 were killed in the uprising, 5 more were executed and 121 were exiled to hard labor in Siberia. As was the custom of the time, many of their families followed; they located in Irkutsk to be near and support their husbands. These well to do and well educated wives established homes in which they lived under a sort of “house arrest”. Over the next 30 years they created schools, hospitals, theaters, newspapers and hosted musical and cultural parties. When Nicholas I died in 1855 many returned to St. Petersburg, some remained in Irkutsk and certainly their cultural legacy lives on in this remote land. This museum is in the Volkonsky House, Maria was the wife of exiled Count Volkonsky.

Sometime during this morning tour of Irkutsk, a second van arrived to take our luggage to Listvianka about 50 km north and directly on Lake Baikal. We moved into the Hotel Mayak. From a distance the hotel appeared to be relatively new (three years old) and nice; overlooking frozen Lake Baikal. A closer look revealed some of the flaws of total governement control and the complete lack of individual enterprise; the entrance mat curled to become a trip hazard, a doorman who only stands by the door, small, inefficient room design, no shower curtains, inability to get two keys per room, no fringe benies like drinking water, etc. Definitely not tourist oriented!

However, they did have a bar with cold beer and vodka which we taxed to the max. Some confusion ensued later as we settled up the bill. On the bar menu vodka shots were listed with the numbers 50 and 350 beside it. It appeared that Vodka was 50 Rubels per shot (about $1.50), the actual price 350 Rubels (about $10.50) makes a considerable difference when paying for the night’s fun. Just another good reason not to drink Vodka.

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A cold blustery day awaits us as we begin our exploration of Irkutsk at 8:00AM. We haul our increasingly heavy luggage down a long set of cement steps, through a short dirty tunnel, then up another set of cement steps where we are asked by a couple of seedy looking guys if we’d like a porter. We declined!
We got a few hours of Irkutsk history. As the city became the jumping off point for exploration of Siberia, it grew in trade and probably it served as a warehouse for many of the goods transported back to Europe via Russia. Irkutsk was also the place where many of the political prisoners were exiled from St. Petersberg and Moscow. We visited a museum of the Decembrists – a group inspired by the French Revolution to plan a coup. They were discovered and exiled to Siberia. Eleven of the 100+ men’s wives followed them and set up homes in Irkutsk to be near their husbands. The museum was one of these homes. These revolutionaries and their wives and families were quite wealthy and well educated, and their stories are interesting. They brought a lot with them to Siberia in the way of education and ideas.
We were all intrigued by the log houses with their brightly decorated shutters and lintels. The logs turn a dark brown/black, but the shutters and lintels are painted bright colors, and under the eaves of many of the houses are carved lengths of “gingerbread” all around the house.
About 11 or 12:00, we head to our hotel about an hour down the road in a little tourist village on the edge of Lake Baikal – the largest fresh water lake in the world (by volume). Its surface area is about the same as Lake Superior, but it holds twice as much water.
When I asked Charlotte what impressed her about Irkutsk, she thought the location of the city on the river and the park we visited when we first arrived was most impressive. Along the river was a fence with several padlocks on it. It’s a local custom for a couple getting married to bring the lock to the fence and after attaching it and locking it, they throw the key into the river. She also thought the Russian Orthodox cathedrals were impressive with their icons on the outside of the buildings and the brightly painted and gold onion domes. Fran

It is dark soon after we depart Ulan-Baatar. We get occasional glimpses of snow and frozen lakes. About 10pm the border drill starts: Maria, our rail-car stewardess, delivers four border crossing forms that each of us needs to complete, then she comes back to grade them, making corrections as needed. During this prolonged episode, the train stops and starts, backs-up, clangs and bangs sometimes at small isolated depots other times in the middle of nowhere. An hour later, there is a short knock and a uniformed official is in our compartment. She looks around and takes our passports. Sometime later a customs official looks around and takes our properly completed customs declaration forms. Then the immigration guy is back with our passports. After lots more stops and starts we cross the border into Russia and this whole process is repeated. This time the officials are less friendly and more thorough in their inspections. We have to open all of our large bags. The border drill finally ended at 2am. This is a good time to point out one of the inconviences of train-travel in the Third World. Like clockwork, the doors to the toilets are locked a few minutes before reaching each station. No matter how long the stop, they are not unlocked until departing the station. The unlocking is not like clockwork, sometimes we are miles away and they are still locked. This little annoyance sometimes reaches dramatic levels. In the middle of the night, one can be easily frustrated to find the door locked in preparation for an impending stop. And, further frustrated when it is a lengthy stop but they will not allow thru-passenders to get off, even though vendors, hucksters and money changers are allowed to board, hawk their wares and depart. The reason for locking latrine doors while in stations is because the toilets flush directly out of the commode onto the railroad tracks. One is reminded of this at every flush as the railroad ties and gravel ballast can be seen whizzing by below as a cold blast of air is forced up to greet you.

The next morning we awake at a platform in some small town. For some unknown reason our train car was unhooked and left alone for about 8 hours on a siding in this small village. Each time we asked Maria how long before we depart, the answer was always the same, “one hour”. Fortunately, we were allowed off at this station. Recons in all directions revealed a pay toilet and a pay shower in one direction, a small grocery-like store with beer, cheese and bread in another direction and an ATM that dispences Rubels in between.

Finally, in late afternoon, we are attached to another train and soon on our way again. Tonight we can sleep without the border interruptions. But we do have lots of stops, some for only a few minutes, others for nearly an hour. With all the stops and the slow speed when we are moving, it is surprising that we ever get anyplace.

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We are on the train from Ulan Bataar to Irkutsk going through customs and passport control from 9:00AM to 4:00PM – unbelievable! The terrain makes a big change from Mongolia to Russia. Mongolia – dusty and dry – Russia – still dry, but hills, trees, streams, etc., and it seems so far the Russians are tidier – we’ll see. Do ALL customs and passport control people seem to have a burr under their saddle? Is it a job requirement? Anyway, passed the time with chit chat, partners cribbage, and beers and cheese – not a bad way to wile away a few hours, unless you have a horrible cold – poor Linda!!! Fran

As I’m writing this I’m sitting in an internet room at our hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia. It’s hard not to compare all the countries, but a few notes about our experiences in China and Vietnam. First of all, my expectations (some of which I think others in the group shared)were that the people in South Vietnam would be friendly and like Americans and the people in North Vietnam would be less friendly and maybe even hostile and not like Americans. I also expected some people in the South to speak English, but few people in the North. I thought the North would be far behind in development. The truth was that the people of both South and North Vietnam were very friendly, many spoke English, the school kids never hesitated to speak to us in English, we didn’t notice any hostility in the North, although the propaganda machine is still alive and well. Both the South and the North are very interested in tourism and therefore strive to make tourists comfortable and to like their country. They always, without fail, had us fill out evaluations for our hotels, for the sites and for the guides, and believe me the guides take that very seriously! South Vietnam seemed to me to be a little ahead in terms of social development, but there wasn’t a great deal of difference. I also had expectations about the hotels, thinking that our hotels would not be all that great, but hoping they would be clean. What we found was that all but one of our hotels were beautiful and exceptionally clean. Throughout – our experience far exceeded our expectations and I would never hesitate to recommend Vietnam as a travel destination and also our tour operator – Exotissimo as a tour company.

In China, our tour company was China Highlights. We again were pleased with every aspect of our travel. The hotels were beautiful, service oriented, and clean. Our tour company provided more meals than the one in Vietnam, but sometimes this meant that we ended up eating far too much. The meals in China are large, many selections of different foods at each meal. We did enjoy it immensely even though the portions could have been cut in half. In China I expected friendly, enthusiastic people and they did not prove us wrong. Again, our tour company had an evaluation for us to fill out every time we moved from one location to another and again the guides were very concerned with what would be put on the evaluation. The evaluations covered the hotels, meals, restaurants, tour guide, driver, vehicle and whether you did any shopping at the recommendation of the guide. In one case we had asked the guide to take us to a pearl factory. On the evaluation, I put that we asked her to take us to the pearl factory and how much we had enjoyed and appreciated it. She brought the evaluation back to me and wanted me to add that we directed her to take us. Anyway, I adjusted the language. She said there are lots of people that would love to have her job and that all tour guides are very sensitive to everything on the evaluations. As it is, our tour guides, drivers, vehicles, & restaurants got the highest ratings. The hotels sometimes got a mark down – not much hot water in one case and no water pressure in another. If that’s all that’s wrong – it’s not much.

Again, our tour company – China Highlights was excellent and they really want to make sure tourists are well taken care of and enjoy China.

I’m getting ready to add our Russian experiences and then will reflect on Russia at a later time.

5 April

After leaving Beijing we traveled North-Northwest through a mountainous area and up onto the high Gobi Desert. This dry, dusty, windy plateau was blamed for the poor air quality in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics. Jerry, Linda and I all suspect the dirt is the cause of our chronic cough which we cannot seem to shake. Fortunately for Jerry and Linda, they have not suffered the recurring chills and fever that has locked onto me.

Ulan-Baatar, the capitol of Mongolia, is located just north of the Gobi Desert in the north-central part of the country. Our first impression is somewhat of a contrast. It appears to be a small, very isolated city in the highest and most remote third world country on earth. However, signs of their struggle into the “modern world” are everywhere. Dozens of high construction cranes jut skyward, decaying buildings stand next to the dramatic architecture of twenty-story hotels and office buildings. Our guide meets us at the train station and has the driver cram all our luggage then the eight of us plus the driver and her into an 11 passenger van. As Betty so often repeated in the following days, “Any idiot would know a bigger van was needed”. Betty – In looking back on it, the tour operator and I had discussed transportation, so I have to bear some of the responsibility – I had not realized they have no luggage area, as we do in most vans/buses in the states. But yes, I was frustrated, as I had arranged everything and took it personally. It was not until we unloaded, that I realized that Jerry had to stand, bent over the whole way. Our guide is TJ – TJ said we better let our tour operator know we needed larger transportation. She is a contract guide and has nothing to do with the transportation arrangements. TJ attended the University of Ulan-Baatar majoring in tourism, many on the Ulan-Baatar Hotel staff speak passable English.

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It’s morning on the Gobi Dessert. Miles and miles and miles of nothing. No trees, no people, no animals. Then a little settlement of one story brick buildings and yerts. Why would you live out here? Desolate, cold, and dry.
Check out the State Department Store on Peace Ave. and Khan’s Ger on Baga Toiruu. Did that! Not so great, but I got a cheap glass cup to use for tea, beer, or soup on the train. We had a nice happy hour in Betty and Chuck’s room. Very happy. Then I had an excellent Monte Cristo for supper. Later I had a double Drambui for dessert, and made a “smart ass” remark to a guy wearing sun glasses in the bar – very stupid! And another day of my excellent adventure ends. Fran

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6 April

Our guide shows us some of the sights of the city. We visit a “working” monastery. Orange clad monks go about their daily chores and young boys study and chant in unison. A huge square in the center of the city honors Mongolia’s two greatest heros: Ghengis Khan (Chingis Khan here) and Sukhbaatar. As every American school child knows; Ghengis Khan and his Mongol army invaded and ruled over 75% of the known world from China on the Pacific to Turkey at the edge of Europe. The grand-son of Ghengis, Kubla Khan, actually moved the capital of the Mongol empire and ruled from Beijing, China. (The tours in China quickly glossed over this tidbit of their history). The other Mongolian hero, not well known to most Americans is Sukhbaatar, a fearless warrior and expert horseman, who led Mongol forces in 1921 to gain their independence from the “Manchu” (Manchuria) and China. Fortuitously, at the end of WWI, as allied powers were restructuring the world order, Mongolia was recognized as an independent country. Sukhbaatar died a year later, at age 27, of undetermined causes, and lives on as a national hero.

Early evening we are back at the Ulan-Baatar train station. We have previously made arrangements to upgrade our 2 four-berth compartments to 4 four-berth compartments, but we will own all the berths. The compartments and toilets are clean but not to the standard of our previous experience.

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We checked out Ulan (Red) Bataar (Hero). First we wemt to a Buddhist temple. This religion came to Mongolia by way of Tibet. It seems diffferent from Chinese Buddhism. It was severly suppressed in Communist times but now has revived. Sixty percent of those claiming a faith are Buddhist. Islam is the next most important faith, but the majority of young people say they are secular (much like China). From the temple, we go to a fine arts museum. In this culture the main mediums are wood block prints, painting on silk, and silk embroidery and applique. The needlework is truly amazing. Some metal casting is also nicely done. Our guide gave us some interesting side lights on Chingas Khan and his successors as well as the modern complexities facing Mongolia. We got to visit a ger and we were allowed to take a picture of a little girl and give both her and her father gifts of chocolate. Stopped by a cashmere and camel hair shop. Did a little damage there! Fran

3 April

Thankfully, a free day. Still plagued with the “Chinese Crud”, I flake out all day while others do some last minute China shopping. We had asked our guide to arrange tickets to a show to see the famous Beijing acrobats. While others attended, I continued to vegetate.

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A lovely free day! I meet Betty, Linda, and Jennifer at 9:30 to go to a market where I pick up purses and a bag. We return to the hotel to find that Chuck is still not feeling very well, so Betty and I head out to the silk market to pick up the clothes Chuck had made for himself. I got a super neat silk jacket embroidered with butterflies – blue, Betty got one in green. Later in the trip we wonder aloud on the dining car on the train if we couldn’t work up an act – perhaps we might sing something like, “We are Siamese if you please. We are Siamese if you don’t please.” Well you get the idea. It really amused a boy sitting across from our table. I’m not sure we intended to be a comedy act, but— I also got some more pearls – rings for Cindy and maybe Jeanette. Then we went back to the hotel and I packed for the train to Ulan Baatar. I took all the stuffing out of the purses and packed my warm weather gear. I also loaded in books and souvenirs which pretty well filled the bag. I then went out and bought a pair of jeans that fit as my plan is to dump the ones I brought along because they DON’T fit. Also picked up a couple of bottles of wine and I’m good to go. The Johnsons, Betty and Charlotte went to the Chinese acrobats’ show. Chuck is still not up to par, and I just took it easy, made up the tips for our driver, Mr. Han, and Linda, our guide. Fran

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4 April

Rise early, bus to the Beijing International Train Station, say good-bye to our guide Linda and we are rolling north for an overnight journey to Ulan-Baatar, Mongolia. We had been told that our compartments would be “two-bunk” instead of the sardine-like “four-bunk” that we have twice endured. Ahh, a pleasant surprise. Not only are they two-bunk compartments but they are clean and very nice. The toilets at the ends of our railcar are “western style” and clean. Plus, our rail stewardess kept them fresh and clean the entire trip. We all agreed, she deserved a healthy tip.

Our little group has started exchanging books. Due to weight limitations, each of us only brought a few with us. Now we are reading those chosen by others. I selected one from Fran’s collection; “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger.

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We leave Beijing at 7:30 AM to Ulan Baatar through northern China. It is very dry many of the cities look very industrial. Lots of work on the railroad – hard manual labor. We see many brick works and what look like open landfills. As we move north, we see some snow and ice on the rivers and standing water. It doesn’t look like a prosperous country, here.
We started across the Chinese border at 7:45PM. all off the train at 8:00. Back on about 11:00. Then we enter Mongolia and it’s another hour or two before we get passports checked and get the customs things taken care of. So—late night. Fran

Feeling only a little better, I tag along for the Hutong Tour by rickshaw. Hutongs are dense ethnic enclaves within Beijing that were established hundreds of years ago and at that time made up much of the city. They have small walls around them, a well, river or lake as a water source and very narrow streets. Each provides the basic necessities of daily living. Families center around a tiny courtyard with different generations living on each of the sides. Modernization has brought about the destruction of thousands of hutongs. Beijing has designated the remaining 26 hutongs as historical areas with special protection to preserve them. Many of the residents now make additional income showing tourists through their courtyard homes. It was quite interesting, even though we were told that many “working age” residents have moved out of the hutongs and into high-rise apartments elsewhere in the city for greater convienence. Still not feeling up to par, I did not go on the afternoon temple tours.

In the evening, we had a little celebration for the “Birthday Girls”: Fran, Charlotte and Linda. We ate the cake provided by China Highlights. Each celebrity wore a small Chinese cap with long, black, braided que. We had a few “yi, er, san; gan bai” toasts. It was a good time.

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Today we start with a rickshaw tour of a Hutong (alley – street). A family of several generations live around a central courtyard which had plantings, caged birds, flowers, etc. We were served tea and the daughter of the family explained how the house was organized. Her hands were freezing. I gave her my hand warmers and she asked to give me a hug – she was a sweetie. Jerry and Steve were interested in the bar street and I believe, revisited it later.
We went to the Temple of Heaven where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties came to pray for good harvests. Beautiful blue tiled temples and gates (blue – the color of heaven) a nice break from the usual gold and green colored tiles. Fran

It is Charlotte’s birthday.

We arrive in Beijing, meet Linda, our new guide, check into the Sun World Hotel; wow this huge city is even more modern and grand than when we last saw it in 2003. We see lots of Olympic improvements. Linda gives us a couple of hours to have breakfast, unpack and shower then we are off to visit Tian’amen square, the Forbidden City and the Silk Market. China Highlights – the tour company we arranged our tours through presented Charlotte and Linda with a birthday cake.

Someplace during the past few days I must have caught a bug that I really didn’t need. In the middle of the night I was chilled and had the start of a sore throat.

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Today it is windy and cold. We scoped out Tiananmen Square – HUGE! We walked through the Forbidden City. I need to watch “The Last Emperor” to see it portrayed in the movie. It was obviously built to impress with the emperor’s power. Imagine how that would limit a person’s live. There are 9999 rooms in the Forbidden City. If you slept in a different room every night, it would take you to the age of over 27 to sleep in all the rooms. 3000 concubines lived in the Forbidden City and were buried alive when the Emperor died – up to the 17th century. Beijing has a population of 14 million. Fran

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1 April

Today is Linda’s birthday. The group has elected to have a joint celebration when we have a “free” evening.

On our way to see the Great Wall of China, we have lunch in a beautiful, partially outdoor restaurant. “The Wall” is still great, even after 2,700 years. A cable car takes us up the mountain and we explore the top of the wall in both directions. At this location, only about 3 miles of the Wall has been restored and open to tourists. Some of it is a steep, challenging climb, lots of steps. The top is about 20 feet wide with stone sidewalls that rise 4 or 5 feet above the deck. The height varies with the terrain between 35 feet and about 40 feet. Over the centuries of construction, so many thousands of lives were lost that some local communities, secretly, called it the “Wall of Death”.

On the way back to Beijing, I start with the chills again and forgo a Ming Tomb tour.

In the evening, we see Kung Fu. The Kung Fu show is actually a very dynamic ballet; both interesting and entertaining.

Chills and coughing plague me all night.

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We started the day with a trip through Olympic Village: the Bird’s Nest and the Olympic tower – WOW!
Walked through Ming Tombs – “Ding Ling” was interesting.
We also walked the Sacred Way, the huge processional road to the tombs lined on either side with lovely groomed weeping willows just leafing out and huge carved stone statues of soldiers and animals to guard the way – very impressive. In the afternoon we went to the Great Wall (one refurbished section), and walked on the wall for a couple of hours. It is beyond words – to think of what it took to build this structure! The cable car ride gave us some great views of the sections we didn’t have time to walk.
In the evening we went to “The Legend of Kung Fu” – a combination of ballet, martial arts display, soap opera, and musical, kind of neat but very LOUD. Fran