With Elana already over in China teaching English, I decided to go join her to do some site-seeing before heading to Hong Kong and Tokyo for business. I just wish we hadn't gone in the scorching summer over there!
July-August 200648 items5737 visitsAlbum by Michael BangPhotos by Michael Bang
1 The Terra Cotta Soldiers An entire army (thousands) of terra cotta soldiers was discovered on a farm near Xian a few years back. They were buried with royalty.
2 Terra Cotta Soldier This is the only example of a soldier that was found completely intact. All others (so far excavated) were broken, mainly due to peasants taking the weapons for an uprising centuries ago.
3 In the Forbidden City Boy was it raining! And, since the Olympics were coming in 2 years, they were already renovating many of the tourist sites. So, unfortunately, many of the buildings in the Forbidden City were covered with scaffolding.
4 The Hall of Perserved Harmony From the outside.
5 The Hall of Preserved Harmony One of the many temples in the Forbidden City.
6 Hall of Personal Harmony The throne
7 Starbucks in the Forbidden City Wow. The ONLY commercial establishment inside the walls of the Forbidden City.
8 The Summer Palace This is where royalty went to spend their summers, just a short drive north of the Forbidden City.
9 The Summer Palace The lake in the Summer Palace
10 The Marble Boat Some crazy empress took all the money for the navy and built this marble boat. No, it doesn't float.
11 The Great Wall of China When in Beijing, you're somewhat close to the Great Wall. We got up to the Badaling section for a hike (in 100 degree heat)
12 Going up? This section of the wall is circular, and is about 5 miles long.
13 The Great Wall It must've been 95 degrees, and yet there were a ton of people climbing...
14 Getting near the top
15 The Great Wall View Still going up, and losing most of the crowd in the process.
16 Looking back down the wall
17 Ming Tombs Almost all of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty were buried here, in a mountainous region outside of Beijing. This is one of the entrances.
18 Ming Tombs This is inside one of the tombs.
19 The Hutong Neighborhood We took a ride on a bicycle cart through an old area of Beijing called the Hutong.
20 Shopping in the Hutong Just walking the streets.
21 Wuhan After a couple of days in Beijing, we flew to Wuhan to catch our cruise up the Yangtze River. Here's our tour guide in Wuhan.
22 Wuhan Museum for the Marquis Yi This tomb was found almost completely intact underground, but some relics had water damage.
23 Marquis Yi His tomb
24 The bells of Marquis Yi This show was played on a replica of the bells found in the tomb. These were probably the first musical instruments ever made.
