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I
beleive the night before we went to a Chinese Acrobatics show.
The food in China was awesome! Very very good stuff. Remember
in China, never step on the threshold of a gate. It's bad
luck!
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Here is one of the many guardians of
the Chinese. This creature is called a "Pschu".
It is one of the common spirit guardians that protect the
Chinese from evil. Some are only for royal persons, others
guard every day folk.
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Later that day or the next day, we went
to the Princess's Palace. She lived to be a very old woman,
and ate pearls everyday to keep her young looking. She also
used powdered pearls as a skin cream. She lived here, near
a large freshwater lake where the pearls were harvested.
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Here is a beautiful stone bridge going
over a river that leads into the lake. All motorized craft
are prohibited from the lake, in an effort to keep the freshwater
mollusks free from polution. They still harvest pearls here.
The scenery here was awesome, and I really should post more
pictures.....
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Here is a shot of some of the outskirts
of Beijing. I was very impressed with the city. Wide streets,
wide sidewalks, new clean buildings, lots of trees and parks.
I liked it much more than Tokyo, actually.
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The
next morning our car picked us up, and we set off down the
highway into the highlands. After a few hours of driving,
and passing many fruit orchards we arrived in the hills of
the Ming Dynasty Tombs.Here is a shot of
one of the gates to the Ming Tombs. Remember not to step on
that threshold!
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Here one of the tombs has been restored and opened to visitors.
This tunnel area was totally buried, and actually lead nowhere.
It was an attempt to frustrate and foil grave robbers.
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A shot of Mike standing on one of the
walls surrounding the Ming Tombs. Mountains can be seen in
the background. I was very much reminded of the California
countryside....
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And a shot of me by the wall with the
mountains in the background.
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We then drove to a restraunt, where the
food was hot and waiting for us. The tour included breakfast
and lunch..but not dinner. Each lunch was ready for us before
we go there, and very very delicous! After the lunch we drove
into the mountains on our way to the Great Wall!
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