Today we started off the day by visiting a jade factory and store. They walked us through the background of where jade comes from, its importance to Chinese culture and how to tell real jade from fake.

We have some serious shoppers in our group so it took some time to get everyone out of the store and back on the bus.

From there, we went to the Spirit Way of the Ming Tombs. These are a series of statues of animals, mythical creatures, soldiers and high officials that line a central walkway.

These statues have been the entryway to the tombs where 14 Ming dynasty emperors are buried and have been in existence for over 600 years. We did not go all the way to the tombs as it appears that there is not much to see other than mounds in the ground. This was probably the favorite place we have visited so far as the area was very peaceful, it was not very crowded, and the weather was very nice so it was fun just to wander through leisurely.

Next we headed on to the section of the Great Wall closest to Beijing...

This area is in the mountains, and we discovered that the pathways are mostly staircases up the mountains periodically broken up by a watch tower. Alex was clearly the champion of the Hales on this venture as he and Dan went the furthest and, much to Alex's disappointment, only turned around when Dan said if we went any further, he was going to be sick. As funny as this is, it is hard to describe how steep and uneven the stairs are in some areas not to mention the altitude that we don't have a chance to experience in Dallas.

We were hoping to have a chance to get some rest at the hotel before dinner but got stuck in Beijing rush hour that was even worse than usual. As a result, we basically had to head straight to the acrobatic show followed by dinner. If Alex hadn't been so excited about seeing the acrobats, we might have skipped this and just gone back to the hotel, but we stayed with the group only to have Alex fall asleep at intermission.

He did enjoy the parts he saw, and I have to admit that there was some pretty phenomenal tumbling.

Tomorrow we are off to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We will post some pictures soon.