Beijing

Our hotel in Beijing. All of our hotels on the trip were billed as five star hotels and they were. Many were new or had just been remodeled, no doubt for the Olympics. The hotel staff personnel were friendly and knowledgeable. Each of the hotels served very good buffet style American breakfasts, so we ate heartily each morning.

Peking duck, carved within sight of your table.

At the jade factory we watched one of the artisans carving a piece.

One of many magnificent jade carvings for sale.

Another temple area.

Series of gates at the temple.

At the cloisonne factory

Meticuously placing the tiny little wires in place.

This segment of the wall is just north of Beijing, less than an hour for our tour bus. We are staring up at what we are about to climb.

Here's Joyce skipping along. This portion of the wall was quite steep. Not only that, but the steps are uneven. One step might be a mere three or four inches high, but the next a stressing foot and a half high. One had to look where one was stepping and hold on, especially on the way back down.

Chuck and Dave on the highest point of this segment of the wall. They just had to climb it.

A watch tower. Untold lives were sacrificed in the building of the wall. It is said that many of their bodies were emtombed within the wall.

Looking back down. Those little specks in the parking lot are tour buses. Oh by the way, our tour guide debunked the popular myth that the Great Wall is the only man-made object the astronauts could see from space. He said that when the astronauts visited the Great Wall, they asked them if they could see it, and they said, "No."