Today was the Ming Tomb and the Mutianyu Great Wall.

We met with our tour driver in the lobby at 7am, he didn't speak any English so the greeting we received was him holding up a phone to Chris which had the details of the trip for him to confirm if it was him. We then stopped about 20 mins down the road and picked up our tour guide , Justin and another tourist from New York. A male makeup artist flown out to Shanghai to do a Louis Vuitton store opening.

We headed into the country side about 1.5 hrs from the city centre, learning along the way the Chinese culture and the animal we are for the year we were born. Even in Chinese culture, Chris and I are a good match being the rabbit and the ox. We learnt how, as a married couple in china are only allowed one baby. They no longer kill the second child if they are born, only tax the parents $7000 for having them. And if you have a third child it is three times that amount in tax! But the loop hole is you can marry, have child, divorce, remarry same person then have more children without being taxed....good to know.

Once deep in the countryside we arrived at the Ming tombs. Quite pretty gardens with a massive underground tomb. They do security checks of bags at the top, just in case you want to blow up the tombs...comforting. The idea that this tomb was built all by hand is astonishing! There are massive marble thrones for the emperor (symbolized by a dragon) and the emperor's wife (symbolized by a phoenix). If you touch the marble, you get good luck and will live 5 more years. We touched both, so we should live 10 years more than we originally were.

Once outside again we had to jump through the Gate of Heaven and never look back for fear that bad spirits would follow you. Also you must never walk through the gate the wrong way for fear that you will leave your spirit in the other world and return stupid and soulless.

Back onto the bus and another short drive down the road we came to the Jade Factory where we could see jade being carved into amazing sculptures. We then got to see a massive pirate ship carved entirely out of jade over 3 meters long and 3 meters high. That began the jade showroom, where you could buy sculptures and jewelry and so the stalking began. There is no such thing as 'I'm browsing, I'll grab you when I'm ready', it's full on stalking you round the shop and insisting you buy. I managed to lose one store lady only to have her appear later on and stand even closer to me. We ended up buying a happy ball/family ball. These symbolize the generations within a family. They are magnificent and very carefully crafted from one piece of jade. They can take over 1 month to make a large one.

From there we drove deeper into the mountains and came to our lunch stop, a restaurant on the side of the hill where all the tourist buses come. It was a rather spicy but enjoyable lunch.

With a full belly and energy to burn, we headed to the Great Wall. Unfortunately it had started to rain so it made it difficult to see the wall from below. We jumped on the chair lift and headed to the top. A scary and thrilling ride which reminded us of Jurassic Park, because of the huge forest and limited visibility beneath our feet.

Once at the top we tackled the Great Wall, well part of it anyway since we only had two hours. It was very beautiful and very disorientating because of the fog and clouds. We met a few English speaking tourists along the way and shopkeeper who had a donkey on the wall. Yes, a donkey. Luckily for us the weather wasn't as hot as usual because of the rain and cloud but we still worked up a sweat and were exhausted by the end. it's probably forbidden, but we can now say we have kissed on the Great Wall.

Coming back down on the chair lift was even more terrifying than the way up. Part way down the rain picked up and by the end we were sufficiently soaked. Leaving the chair lift we were bailed up by two gentleman in traditional warrior clothing who insisted on a photo, then asked for money...fell into that trap. On the way back down the mountain we were bombarded again by people selling items. Needless to say we were glad to get back on the bus for the piece and quiet. Our driver and a few other drivers from other tour companies were enjoying a lively card game on our return.

Heading back into Beijing we visited Dr.Tea. A traditional tea house. We sampled some of the tea, jasmine, oolong and puer tea. Again once we were finished it was onto the gift shop to be told to buy more things. I'm not sure if customs would allow us to bring the tea with us to Europe so we left it there. Maybe on the way back.

Exhausted we returned to our hotel and got Chinese takeaway. We had to order by pointing at pictures and it's not like home at all, there's have a lot more spice involved. I couldn't eat mine and Chris made a decent effort on his.

Now doing some washing, preparing to visit the zoo tomorrow and then onto Paris.