China Day 2

We chose to go outside of Beijing today.  It was the last day of the Golden Week holiday in China and we'd heard that the sites in the city would be crowded.  We had breakfast at our hotel ( 2 breakfasts/day included in our rate).  The food was mediocre, but it hit the spot.  We were careful not to drink any water unless it was bottled, and no fresh fruits or veggies.  Cooked = okay.  Uncooked = beware!

The day was cloudy and in the 60's and they were calling for rain.  I packed 2 peanut butter sandwiches and we grabbed several water bottles just in case.  From what I had read in the guide books, the tombs were outside of Beijing.  What we didn't realize is the tombs are actually a 2 1/2 hour drive outside Beijing.  I don't need to tell you how well that went over with the kids.

When we finally arrived, we were all tired and grumpy.  The good news was the rain held off and the skies began to clear off.  We really enjoyed seeing the surrounding mountains.  

Our driver parked the van and we were off!  We weren't quite sure of what we were doing!  So we just headed towards the nearest building.

We were stopped short by the beauty of the centuries old buildings.  Wow. 

What we learned:  The first tomb we hit was Emperor Qianlong (1736 - 1795)   The outer buildings were pretty neat but it wasn't until we ventured to the back

   

(--and I mean back!  We came out of an outer building and Jim started walking behind it. I thought he was crazy and was getting ready to nag him, but that is where the actual tomb and tomb building were located!  There weren't any clues or signs to show you, and you can't really see it from the front outer court area.  I feel like we sorta found it by luck!--- ) 

and then down underneath that we put the whole picture of a tomb together.

Here is a picture of us behind the tomb structure.  We are on a walkway that is up and behind the outer courtyard area.  Directly to the grassy area on the right of the picture is the top of the tomb.  This walkway made a large circle around the grassy area.

When you walk back down, you can take steps/ramps down underneath to what had been the sealed area of the tomb.  Inside the sealed tomb, the entire walkway down to, and the interior chamber were intricately carved marble.  This blurry picture of the inside of the tomb will give you a blurry idea:

The buddhist carvings were so detailed!  Beautiful!  Amazing to think it was all sealed away!  This tomb contained the emperor, his empress, and one or two of his favorite concubines. 

Here is some detail of the guardians on the roof top corners, outside:

Speaking of concubines, after touring Emperor Qianlong's tomb (about and hour), we headed out to that parking area and were driven to the next set of tombs, which turned out to be the tombs of the concubines.    The Qing Tombs are huge and pretty spread out. 

The next stop, the concubine tombs:  They are much smaller, not intricately carved, and their roofs are green.  Only two of the many tombs were open to walk into, and not very special looking inside compared to Qianlong.  Here is John among the outer buildings of the concubine tomb area.  Note the green tile roofs!

Finally, our last tomb visit ended up being the Empress Cixi!  (circa 1879)  She is well known as the concubine who became the Empress who was responsible for the downfall of China!  Her tomb was intricate, very similar to Qianlong's, and contained a beautiful marble phoenix slab outside.  (Dragons = Emperor   Phoenix = Empresses)

Sometime during the tomb visits we were starving and all 5 of us split the 2 peanut butter sandwiches.  The tombs are situated out in the country and there are no eating establishments nearby.  Also, no western toilets.  I chose not to go tinkle this day until we got back to Beijing.  TMI for some, I'm sure, but if you ever visit the tombs, be prepared to use a squat toilet or be prepared to hold it!!!

We left the Qing tombs around 2:30 and did the drive back to Beijing and straight to dinner at Xiaowang's House Restaurant.  It was an earlier dinner, but we were all hungry.  This was our first adventure in Chinese eating.  We ordered:  lemon chicken, short ribs, some cashew dish, pickled cucumber dish, noodle dish, honey-cashew chicken dish, egg rolls with a red-bean paste filling, beer and sodas.  The food was sooooooo good, and the whole dinner cost around $40 US!    Yes, we did eat with chopsticks.  I did give John a plastic fork to use.  I also carried plastic utensils with us everywhere, just in case.  Even Joe liked the rice: 

End of Day 2.

Impressions:  

1.  The Qing tombs were worth seeing.  I wasn't convinced I would enjoy touring what is basically a cemetery for China's rulers, but I am so happy we did.  I am also happy we chose the Qing tombs over the Ming tombs.  The rest of the week was spent in historical places mostly associated with the Qing dynasty, such as the Forbidden City, Summer Palace.....I could go on.  It was neat to have seen the tombs before the rest.

2.  Driving is downright frightening at times.  We saw 3 accidents on the way to the tombs.  

3.  Chinese food is so good.  So much better than in the US.  Just like they can't really do Western food, we can't make Eastern food back home.  I also learned that my dislike for Chinese food in Singapore is not "Chinese" at all.  It's the Malay influence on the Chinese food that I dislike!  Interesting!

4.  Two of the boys picked up a "souvenir".  These buildings are very old.  There are tiles and pieces of roof tiles all over the ground.  Two of them came home with colored roof tiles.  We weren't sure what to do about that.  Someday you'll see my great grand child on Antique Roadshow with a piece of tile from the Qing tombs.  "My Grand Dad said he picked it up when he was a boy in China."......

Up Next:  Summer Palace!