No visit to China would be complete without a visit to the Great Wall, catching a Chinese tour bus from Tienanmen sq (great idea if you cant speak mandarin) we first stopped off at the Ming tombs ( Above) This vast complex of tombs is pretty impressive above ground, there is one tomb open to the public, however you would find a walk through the London underground as interesting. All of the artifacts have been removed and the actual burial site is encased in steel, so there is nothing to see except stone walls. The Chinese tourists seemed to be very excited, perhaps because its a past emperor who is buried here.
You could be forgiven for thinking that you were at Disney World when arriving at the Great Wall, sure there are plenty of coaches, hundreds of Chinese tourists but I didn't expect there to be a theme park style ride that takes you up to the wall. We could have walked but where's the fun in that (lazy I know).
The wall is certainly impressive, built along the ridge lines of the hills and mountains it separates China from Inner Mongolia. I always remember being told at school you could see the wall with the naked eye from outer space. This myth has now even been removed from Chinese school text books. After all if you could see the wall you would also be able to see every single lane road in the world. Certain sections of the wall have so many tourists on them it looks like the wall is shimmering its way across the mountains.
Highlights: Walking on the Worlds largest wall
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