We have arrived and with remarkedly little difficulty found the Viking representative. Just waiting for everyone else to check in and then to the hotel.

The Imperial gate. Used only by the Emperor is at the beginning of the Square.

A photo down the length of the Square between the Imperial gate and the building with Mao’s photo. \240Legislature is on the left.

The Statue of the people in front of Mao’s Mausoleum. Did not see the crystal casket as building closed today. A 500 year old building was demolished to build his tomb in this spot. It is considered the best location as it is on the Imperial Way from the gate to the Forbidden City.

Monument to the Hero’s. Note Mao’s Mausoleum to the right.

Entrance to the Forbidden City. Note the picture. \240We were told the picture is repainted every few years. \240Cannot remember how many years she said.

Lunch and a good beer after a long walk.

Entrance with statues and a bridge over the moat.

One of several sets of doors. \240Always in pairs with 9 rows of metal studs with 9 in each row. \240Very auspicious I was told.

Second bridge over water in outer court.

One of 2 bronzes outside one of the courts.

These were seen frequently and had more gold coloring the closer you got to the inner courts and the Emperor. Used for fire control-filled with water.

See the city skyline behind the buildings.

The center is marble brought from Mongolia. \240Story is the roads were frozen to aid in transporting the huge pieces.

Loved this dragon!!

Last few are of an interior courtyard with buildings for the use of some of the women.

Picture of the pagoda in the gardens that were still far away. \240Maybe next time.

Sign on arrival

Wayne and Connie on the wall at the first watchtower.

Incredible sight!

Headed up on the wall to another watchtower.

Enjoy the following wall pictures.

Guess who!!!

Map of the wall.

Lion gate

High ranking official

Middle ranking official.

Carving on back of robes—see the birds and detailing.

Lower ranking official.

Horses carved in robes of warrior.

Warrior

Horse

Qilin— Mythical animal that subdues fire and wards off evil spirits and stands for justice.

Elephant

Wayne with camel

Unicorn (xie zhi)—Mythical creature to catch ghosts and demons

Lion

Good luck if you rub the tail of the dragon tortoise.

Head of the dragon tortoise. The large pillar on his back has the names of the emperors buried at this site.

Back to the hotel to prepare for an evening out!

Beijing Duck Dinner this evening. Quite a show watching the chef “shave” the duck into 108 pieces! \240Very good dinner—totally Chinese!!!

Very ready for a good night’s sleep and tomorrow’s adventures.

Stopped for a demonstration in Hackysac at one of the parks prior to climbing in our bicycle driven rickshaw. \240

Wayne and I in our rickshaw.

Stopped at one of the local Hutong homes to hear about it from the resident. \240During the cultural revolution most of her grandparents home became property of the government. \240She still lives in the main home which is quite large for a single person.

Her niece continues the family line of painting the inside of bottles. \240She is teaching the younger generation how to do this.

Continued on to a tea ceremony. Really loved some of the teas but too “tight” to pay close to a hundred dollars for tea. \240Of course it is a special blend only in China—not exported.

Headed to the airport for the flight to Xi’an.

Here is some of our group. \240Waiting for boarding.

Arrived in Xi’an without incidence and checked into the Hilton. Great wall decoration.

First view of Pit 1–vast space!

The sign shows where the well was being dug by the farmer who discovered the site.

Charioteers— the back one is thought to be the youngest soldier found so far.

In process of restoration.

Horses being restored.

Process of excavation

Pit 3 has continuing excavation and displayed figures.

Kneeling archer.

One of 2 bronze chariots found close to Emperor’s grave

Bronze horses

Empetor’s grave— guarded, has not been excavated.

Connie at Pit 1.

Wayne at Pit 1.

Connie photo op at factory that makes replicas in all sizes. \240I am a general—note the armor.

Introducing Emperor Wayne!

This is our group’s tour guide TingTing. \240Once again she is making sure our luggage made the trip with us!!

Chongqing from the veranda on the boat.

Wayne on veranda.

Taking my own picture with Chongqing in background.

River view.

Temple approach.

Approach to bridge.

See the arch entrance.

This is the wooden bridge over to the temple.

View of our ship from the main temple entrance.

Signs.

Connie in front of the temple.

View while climbing.

Scene with Emperor and soldiers.

Beautiful window and view with the climb!! \240

Budda carvings.

Upper entrance to temple.

Monk with lesson to be content with what you have.

Bridge from top of temple.

To climb to the temple is 99 ladder type steps to the top from entrance. It was an endurance test and am happy to have made it and to have seen the temple.

Tomorrow promises to be exciting. \240Will touch base then.

Land changing as we enter.

Talk given about the Gorges by ship personnel as we enter. \240Some of the people who attended.

Beautiful!!

This is a sign they have displayed about the 3 Gorges.

We will dock and take a Sampan ride into a tributary of the second Gorge — called the Goddess stream.

This is a picture of what they call a sampan

Called the Goddess stream as there is a statue of a Goddess at the top of that large rock.

Pictures while going down the narrow tributary.

Enjoyed it! \240There is a hanging coffin from the Bai ancient people up on a cliff in a cave. Supposedly a stone coffin with 2 children inside. \240The people thought that the closer you were buried to heaven the shorter the journey.

I did not get good pictures of it as it was in the shadows and the cave is just marked with yellow paint. Sorry 😐!

Then back to the boat. We will be going through some of the locks tonight.

One last picture!!

I was told he was bringing the scallops for supper to the boat! \240I really don’t know if that was true, but the scallops were yummy!

A temple at the top of the area where we docked.

A picturesque view from the top viewing area \240 We arrived after driving up and then taking 3 sets of moving steps to the top.

Highest view point.

Decoration on Wall at viewing area.

More decoration.

Long shot of dam.

Second shot from viewing area.

Ditto—dam shot.

View to note different water levels.

A local man fishing beside our gangplank.

Village as seen from the river

Village.

Local boats— note we still have beautiful views.

Last picture as we leave the gorge.

Entering our last lock.

Coming out of the lock.

Goodnight!!

Welcoming band.

Introduction line from youngest at 6 to oldest at 9. \240They wave and love to “high 5” you!

A program they prepared for us.

2 of the students in the room we visited. They know little to no English at this stage. \240Our guide was asking them to help us with Chinese. \240

This student only knows the United Kingdom, USA, and China. One passenger drew a map below to show her where Canada was.

Museum entrance.

Title of exhibition.

A bust of the Marquis. It is believed by research that he only lived until his early 40’s—probably due to his vices!!!

The large chest was his coffin and the lacquered chests contained his wife/concubines (21 of them!) along with his pets

Wine vats with ladle.

This tiny ox was on one of the containers. \240Such delicate work!! See following picture.

These tiny jade animals were often put in the mouth and on the eyes as it was believed they preserved the body.

First ice chest. See below—an inner container was set in ice and then covered.

This 2 pieces—a cup and a bowl. Detail work was gorgeous.

The Hubei bells—discovered how they were played by the pictures on a jewelry chest!

Double good fortune!! \240A crane is one of the sacred animals and the antlers enhance it’s value!

This is a type of musical instrument with strings—still working on how it is used.

Drum base.

Illustration of how it was used.

Performance given using the bells with dance included.

Sign at entry.

As with the Forbidden City these pots were used for fire control.

Statue of the commander. Of note the fringe on the headdress would have covered his face as he could not be directly looked at. \240Often a reflection in water was used.

Map of China at that time.

From the fortress the river could be surveyed in 3 directions. \240Now you can see the first bridge across the Yangtze. Trains on lower level and cars on top. There have been more bridges since then.

Overall temple

Shanghai skyline from the Bund.

Wayne in front of the flower wall.

Connie in front of the flower wall.

Bull is for the stock market that is on this street.

Next 3 pictures are unique buildings seen from the Bund.

Wayne and Connie with Shanghai in the background.

Outside the complex. \240As stated kind of like walking through the gates to Chinatown.

A commercial area just prior to going into the gardens with a reproduction of a sampan on the water.

One of several fountain heads.

Areas for sitting and lots of greenery. \240Trees are a favorite of mine—especially so well framed by a window opening! \240the tree in the window is an actual carved picture. \240Only the greenery is natural.

Decorative doorway

Connie sitting at one of the water areas in the garden.

Wall decoration. \240Only the Emperor could have dragons done. \240Soldiers were dispatched to remove the owners head but he pointed out that it could NOT be a dragon as it had only 3 toes and everyone knows a dragon has 4!! \240He lived. \240He called it a 3 toed snake.

Wayne—note another decorative door behind him.

Water view with bridge in the garden.

This garden is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Loved this little guy!! \240The middle hole was to hold wine and then hot water would be poured in the other 2 holes to warm the wine. \240At least their priorities were straight!!

Tonight we saw an acrobatic show but “no pictures” were requested. \240

And this is an impressive picture of their ability to creatively wire!! \240Would hate to have to find a problem.

This is our last night. We will be up in the morning and out to the airport. \240Hate to be done but ready for my own bed!!

Truely the trip of a lifetime!! \240Hope you enjoyed this!