I had a pleasant enough time sightseeing yesterday, although at first the pouring rain outside didn't bode well for a day of climbing on the Great Wall. Lulu was our guide again, but the group was much smaller and not quite so lively. I struck up a nice conversation with an older Scottish lady who works for Strathclyde University in Glasgow; she was on a big swing through Asia that included Seoul, Bangkok, New Delhi, and Nepal. There were also a Malaysian couple and 3 men from Canada onboard, along with two Chinese gentlemen who apparently felt that the floor of the minibus was their personal spitoon. Ick!

Lulu repeated much of her schtick from the first day, so I just tuned out and read my guide book. Our first stop was another state-owned store, a jade factory this time. We received another "informative lecture", shown a few mineral samples along with a couple of bored looking workers without any eye protection grinding jade on high-speed drills, after which we were turned loose in the retail outlet. I bought a couple of small, inexpensive things to give as souvenirs, but eschewed any large purchases.

We then stopped at the largest of the 13 tombs of the Ming Emperors. The architecture was quite similar to that of the Forbidden City. Since the main tomb chamber has never been excavated, we were shown to a large hall where replicas of the treasures from a smaller tomb were on display. None of it was terribly interesting, and we only stayed there for 45 minutes or so. As we left, we made our way through a lovely, peaceful garden courtyard. At that moment, the tranquility was shattered by an old lady behind me who let out a tremendous wet belch that reverberated throughout the whole area. Apparently, "why fart and waste it when you can burp and taste it" is a saying that the Chinese take to its penultimate expression.

After climbing back on the bus, Lulu announced that we were in for a special treat, we were going to be taken to a famous Chinese-medicine clinic where actual doctors would lecture us on the benefits of herbal remedies and give us a free diagnosis. I knew right away that this was yet another attempt to pry me away from large amounts of RMB, but what are you gonna do?

At the clinic we were all shown into a little room and asked to sit down. An assistant soon arrived and gave a 5-minute talk about the pulse points on our left and right wrists, then an elderly gentleman, who I presume was the doctor, entered the room and proceeded to give the hard-sell to one of the Canadians. He took about 1 minute to check the guy's pulse and look at the coating on his tongue before pronouncing him to be suffering from lower-back pain, stomach problems, and an incipient spleen condition. The doctor prescribed about 600 RMB (~$70) worth of herbs (along with the internal organs of a couple of endangered animal species, I suspect) and promised that this would cure all of his medical problems, clean his floors, and make a great dessert topping. Quite frankly, I felt like I was watching a gypsy at the carnival read palms.

I had seen enough by this point, so I got up and left the room. After waiting by the bus for a few minutes, I was joined by most of the other folks on the tour. The Canadian emerged last clutching a shopping bag full of "medicine". I whispered to the Scottish lady that any relief he got from his lower-back pain would probably be a result of the dramatic thinning of his wallet, rather than any beneficial effect acheived from an infusion of grizzly bear gall bladders.

Finally clear of all the mandatory fleecing stops, we heading over to a giant cafeteria-style restaurant with 50-75 tour buses parked around it. We were served a rather mediocre lunch, then headed off to Ba-da-ling.

The drive to the Wall took us through some very dramatic mountainous countryside. I was also quite pleased to see the rain stop and the clouds begin to part as we approached.

Ba-da-ling was the first section of the wall to be rebuilt, and it's also the most popular with tourists. The parking lot is a riot of tour buses, street vendors, and fast-food joints; the place had a really unpleasant Disneyland kind of vibe to it.

Lulu told us that we would take a "chair lift" up to the 4th watchtower along this section, where we would be turned loose for 2 hours of hiking on our own. The price of the lift was not included in the tour, so we had to cough up an additional 60RMB apiece for the privilege of climbing into a wet little plastic bucket on a rollercoaster track that took us, grinding and squealing, up the side of the mountain. No doubt this was exactly how the original wall workers reached the top during ancient times!

Once at the top, I pushed my way through the crowds of tourists and started the long scramble towards the 8th watchtower along the paving stones that covered the top of the wall. I was really grateful that the rain had stopped because attempting to negotiate those slippery stones was difficult enough when they were dry, and would've likely been life-threatening when slick with water.

It's also a good thing that I'm in shape because getting to the 8th tower was no picnic. The angle of climb was very steep and the steps are uneven. I really felt the burn when I reached the end of the section and I was sweatin' like Tom Jones after his midnight set in Vegas.

There were even more vendors situated along the top of the wall; they were calling out and thrusting tschotkes in my face at practically every step. I was quite amused to see pictures of Jesus being sold next to pictures of Mao.

After snapping a few pics, I headed back to the bus. Riding the chair lift down the mountain was actually kind of fun, if somewhat scary due to the obvious lack of maintenance on the track. I waited on the bus and chatted with the Scottish lady. Every few minutes one of the ladies from a nearby souvenir stand poked her head into the bus with some new, must-have item for us to purchase. I put my limited knowlege of Mandarin to use by practicing saying "Wo Bu Yao" (I don't want) at least 20 times or more.

We finally headed back down the mountain and returned to Beijing at high speed via some winding back roads that took us through several picturesque little villages.

When I got back to the hotel, I encountered a huge crowd of scientists registering for a nanotechnology conference that runs through tomorrow. Joy!

Better go flag down a taxi and head off to the office for my first day of actual work. wish me luck!