Beijing - Part 2

Our second day in Beijing was spectacular. We decided to make the trip out to see the Great Wall of China. I shouldn't have to give too much background info - the wall was constructed in Northern China, starting from the 5th century BC. Each successive dynasty built more and more sections, trying to keep invaders from taking over China. This included the Mongols and Manchurians. It is now considered one of the "modern" Wonders of the World.

We took a bus from our hotel, towards the Great Wall. There are several areas where you can climb up on the Wall. The most popular is Badaling. That's where I visited before. We felt that, because of the incredible crowds in Beijing, that we would head to a different part of the Wall, located in Mutianyu. I have to say that each location is amazing - and Mutianyu has some unique features.

However, before we reached Mutianyu, we stopped at a Chinese Cloisonne factory. This is where they create vases, ornaments and decorations that are made from copper and colored with enamel. Everything is done by hand. On top of the copper shape, they solder tiny strips of copper, to define the shapes of the decoration. They fill in the shapes with liquid enamel and then "bake" the piece to harden the colors. It's finally sanded, so the copper wired is flush with the enamel and everything shines beautifully.

The store that was attached to the factory had some great pieces of art. After watching them create this by hand, I have new respect for the process. All of the pieces were just too expensive, even though I found some dragon figures that were quite nice.

After purchasing some beautiful Christmas ornaments, we made our way to the Wall. As I said before, Mutianyu has unique features. The biggest one is a cable-car ride from the base of the mountain, to the actual Wall:

Once at the actuall Wall, we were blessed to see some amazing views. The best part was the time-of-year. Many of the leaves were changing color, so that you had hints of red, orange and yellow in your view of the miles and miles of Great Wall:

Here's a little video clip of the view, from just above the cable car drop-off:

It was an amazing and humbling sight. It's still hard to believe how tall and long the Great Wall actually is. How long it took - how many people were used to build it - it all boggles the mind. It's just fun to walk and hike along very different terrain:

Yeah, that's me - goofin' around on the Great Wall. Did you expect anything else?

It sure helps to bring a great photographer along, no?

The tour we took, also stopped at a Tea House, so we could learn all about the herbal teas that are so famous in China. We didn't spend a lot of time there - and nobody on the tour actually bought anything there ; )

That evening, I decided to take my wife to one of the "wilder" sights in Beijing. I call it "Food Street", but it's officially called the "Dong Hua Men Night Market". It's located right next to Wangfujing Street, which is a really nice avenue for strolling. It's a major shopping district, with brand names everywhere you go. However, at night - it's all about Food Street, baby:

Here are some pictures of the various food-on-a-stick options that are offered there:

Some lovely vegetables

Nice selection of fruit - most are covered with a clear, sugar coating

Here are some fish and meat (yeah, those are sliced kidneys in there)

However, you can also find some things that are a little more....unusual. This stuff just blew my mind:

If you click to enlarge the picture...you'll understand what I mean...

These selections even have name tags, so you can really be grossed-out

And just when you thought it couldn't get any more "weird" - we found this extra special booth, just around the corner:

That's right - starfish and black scorpions.

But wait - there's more. We found that the black scorpions were the "tame" part of this booth. They actually had "live" scorpions on a stick. Watch them move on this video clip, for proof:

Despite all the craziness, we actually enjoyed some good food. My wife was really a sport. She even tried a long stick of grapes, coated in the sugary stuff. It was really good...VERY sweet: