Da Boys climbing up to the Great Wall

We were not alone on our climb, though everything today was hard to see.... This is the 'Bird's Nest', where the Olympics will have the Opening Ceremonies, seen dimly.... The Forbidden City His Picture Still Reigns here! Jim and Mercer pay homage

June 20th Beijing The tour of Beijing today started in the lobby of the Raffles when we met “Mavis”, our 27 year old native guide. Turns out that when the students are in English class in college, the teacher picks out an “English” name for them and Mavis was it for this quiet yet very competent guide. Along with our driver “Rio”, we set out in a Buick minivan no less, to see the Great Wall, followed by the Forbidden City of the Emperors and then Tiananmen Square and a walk back to the hotel. Once again, traffic is our constant companion as we slugged our way out through the 6 “Ring Roads” that circle Beijing.

It was once again terribly hazy with visibility below a mile for almost 100% of the day, getting a little better as we walked from the Square to our hotel in the very hot and humid afternoon. It was a treat to get back for shower two of the day. In my determination to be a good reporter, I managed to beat off the beer sellers in the lobby and get up here to write the blog BEFORE going back to the bar in an hour or so :-).

The Story of the Great Wall is truly incredible. At one point about 650 years ago VIRTUALLY EVERY ABLE BODIED MALE IN THE COUNTRY was hard at work on the building of the wall. It is also known as the world’s largest cemetery. Many, MANY workers died during the building of the Wall, they were simply made a part of it, buried on the spot in whatever section they were next to when they died. The Forbidden City was spectacular. About 200 acres of incredible construction and wealth displayed for us to see today after being closed to all but the royal family and its slaves for so many centuries. We decided since about 20,000 Eunuchs were used to protect the Emperor and work for him, that we would just as soon not be a party to helping him out!

We are certain that many of the things we saw today would be three times as spectacular if it was a bluebird day with clear skies and bright sun. Alas, that was not to be today. We drove through the Olympic area on our way back from the wall and were able to see some things in the dim distance, I include a picture shot of the “Bird’s Nest” which is the main stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held. If the networks have the same kind of weather when the show starts, they will have a hard time bringing you anything that looks like it was shot “in living color.”

We are off to Seoul in the morning. I’m heading over to Mercer’s room in a minute to try downloading some of his pictures of Shanghai. If the construction workers’ do their thing again, I’ll be up in the morning early and will have a chance to send some of them up to the blog. Seeya! Bob