Sunday, April 3, 2016

2016 Asia Mega Tour - The End Of China (Pictures), The Great Wall And Ming Tombs (not)

According to Dragon Tour Guide Pooh Lee Shah one has to see the Great Wall. History has it that the first emperor who unified China, Qin Shi Huang, in the process of creating a singular polity conducted huge public works projects all of which were very expensive. Recognizing that an empire that would stand the test of time would need a steady source of revenue, he hit upon a scheme. Many of the individual states of China before the unification had built protective walls. Qin Shi Huang said, "If I connect these all into one Great Wall, it will be the tourist attraction of all time.!" And so it became for it certainly was not a successful defense mechanism. To this day the Great Wall provides revenue for the State from tourism. The later Ming Dynasty initiated the state run Trinkets industry which also survives today. Going to the Great Wall is a humbling symbol that our current world of Disney is but a shadow of the great tourism ventures of the past.

As we are leaving Beijing, a remaining section of the old city walls

Ah Wife and I happy with the Pooh Lee Shah Tour Team
Ha, ha, ha Big Nose, the Long March never ends. 
Up you go that steep ass climb up the Wall

We don't believe in 'rules'.
They're way to crass
No we have gentle 'Warm Prompts'
The Wall in all its glory








The Ming Tombs That Aren't

Having been to the Ming Tombs in Nanjing, we thought we had a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Except they were all closed for restoration :(
So all we got to see was the entry path with lots of statues






Our guide told the kids it was okay to get on the animal statues
Except it wasn't and the officials shooed them off






Our favorite - The Dragon Turtle
Giving homage to the Dragon Turtle


1 comment:

alexis said...

that looks familiar but then again I suppose all the bits of the wall probably look the same!