Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Touring Beijing






Saturday November 1st we went on a tour. Are first stop was the Ming Tombs built 600 years ago holding several Chinese Emperors and their concubines of ancient China. A museum of artifacts recovered from open tombs during the revolt of the 80's showed clothing, silver, gold, head dresses, jewelry, ancient writings, and and cooking utensils.








Next we toured the largest jade factory in China run by the government. It was obvious that they are quite skillful in the arts as we observed detailed sculpting of many different designs of all shapes, sizes, and colors of jade.
















Our next stop was our favorite,The Great Wall! They say that you are not a man until you have climbed it and boy are they right! Our guide took us to the most challenging section of the wall. It was all climbing without any flat areas as some parts are. Most of the steps were up to your knees! Alissa and I made it all the way to the top! It was a great feeling of accomplishment.




Our last stop was the Silk Factory. They showed us the process of making silk quilts. We saw everything from gathering the silk from the silk worms to then the making of quilts from start to finish. It was quite amusing.









1 comment:

Diana Swenson said...

Hello,
Grace and Giles were able to see the blog and all of the new pictures. Whenever I hear bullheads and carp I think of Fox Lake. Yummy good food!!!! Swen is dropping off Giles and Grace. Giles did not want to leave and Grace was ready. Erik and Giles played with their nerf guns non stop. I never knew one could modify a plastic toy gun in so many different ways. Erik and Giles should be conjoined twins. They never fight and truly enjoy each other. Grace misses Mama!!!
Diana Swenson