"Ni Hao" from China. We got an early start today (7am), so we could go about 1 hour north of Beijing on a tour of the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall.

We visited one tomb, for the third Ming emperor, Chang Ling. The tombs are magnificent, with several gates and buildings leading up to them. We passed through the same gate that the dead emperor used to pass to the spiritual world. To get back to earth, we had to return through the same gate, and scream "I am back!" in Chinese.

The emperor is actually buried in a huge man-made hill behind the tomb, with subterranean passages and slaves (not volunteers) who accompanied him to his just rewards.

From here, we rode about another hour north to the Great Wall at Badaling. This is truly amazing. Built by hundreds of thousands of slaves, at a human cost of one life per meter, the Great Wall extends for about 6500km.

Badaling is the section of the Wall that most tour buses go to, and it has the most carnival atmosphere, but even here, you are in awe of the structure. We rode a "pulley cart" up and down to the wall itself, but walked several km along the Wall. We climbed to the topmost outpost, until a guard told us "No Way" to signal the end of the line. Some of the steps are incredibly steep, and the climb is not easy.

Here is also where we learned to say "Wo bu yao" ("I don't want...") to dozens of vendors hawking everything from t-shirts to souvenir booklets. There are also several black bears who will jump at food you toss them.

The tour also did the obligatory commercial stops -- at a jade carving factory, and a Chinese "medical" facility, where "famous, old Chinese doctors" would diagnose your ills from a menu of about 20 or so preset items, and prescribe various teas, snakes, and herbs to cure you. The worst peril was escaping with your wallet intact, and we managed. We also managed to down the Chinese lunch that was provided, without any ill effects -- yet.

The ride back to Beijing took two hours in terrible traffic. Our guide had picked us up at 7am, and we arrived back just after 7pm. It was a very long day, so we'll close with "bye bye" -- or as they say here in China, "bye bye."