Today we took a tour out to Badaling to see the Great Wall. But first we went to the Ming Tombs, a complex about an hour ouside of Beijing, containing the final resting places of thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Our Chinese guide was called 'Ali', we assume after Ali McBeal, and throughout the day, she referred to herself in the third person, which was a bit weird.
As with many of these tours, we were also 'treated' to a visit to a jade factory (no, we didn't buy any) and to a traditional Chinese medicine place, where they diagnosed Cliff correctly with a couple of the ailments he has (and yes, he bought the cures). We also had a really nice lunch, back at the jade place, although we still weren't tempted to buy anything.
As we only had a couple of hours on the wall itself, we opted for the cable car to take us up and back. We had prepared ourselves for the fact that it would be busy up on the wall, as Badaling is the most accessible part of it from Beijing. So we weren't too surprised by the number of people up there and it didn't take anything away from the amazing experience.
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