all bright and sparkly at the jade store.
jade statue.
a worker cutting a piece of jade.
finally, ju yong guan wall, at badaling. there are a few stretches of wall which we could climb and we were drove to this one. saw another stretch opposite ours with less ppl. dunno why they din let us climb that. this one was much steeper and more crowded. it was a hot and sunny day so you can see ppl with umbrellas climbing along to the top.
locking your hearts here anyone? a chain of locks supposedly for lovers. they lock their love there.
view from the bottom right to the top. we were only given about 40 mins. with all the ppl blocking the way at the bottom, it was quite a jam and one could just inch his way forward. in the end, i did not manage to reach the top because of time constraint. i did not want to let others wait. could have reached the top if i knew coming down was so fast. missed!!! my friends all surrendered at the 2nd tower because they could not cope with the steep steps. but wonder: i saw someone in crutches going quite high and did not huff and puff. salute! that was a white lady.
the steps...not even and quite steep. look new huh...of course lah...this is renovated path for tourists.
view from the top. ppl holding to the rail on both sides for their climb or descend.
if you have reached this part, you can go to the area designated to get your certificate. it is more like a plague where they carve your name and date you went. din do it lah. picture can already prove that i was there.
my faithful acupuncture going to the great wall.
had lunch after the great wall experience. it was awesome standing on that magnificent structure and knowing that i have reached one of the wonders of the world. woo hooo!!! but it would have been better if there was someone else to cherish this moment with hor. the next time you want to go to the great wall, bring your loved one along.
went to the ming tombs after that. there were 13 tombs all together. it is the final resting place of 13 ming emperors. we only went to visit 1 of the 13 tombs. the one that we went to belong to ding ling. all the tombs are underground but built in magnificent underground vaults.
passing many cherry and other fruits orchards along the way. all the ladies wanted the tour guide to stop to let them buy fruits. so we did stop and got cherries, dried haw and dates, apricot, nectarine and some nuts.
deep horn cypress...another old tree on the way to the tomb.
the emperor and empress' coffins and the chests of valuables buried together. these are not the original ones.
geomantic hole. if you throw your money and it went straight to the hole, you will have great wealth.
emperor's seat and others items found in the tomb. also non-original.
mark of workmanship on a brick. in the olden days, every brick needed to have the maker's stamp. if any default was found, it was off with the head of the maker. therefore, things made in the past tended to last longer. i found even the bricks on the ground leading to the tomb have this mark and they were dated 2005. so it is really good quality control huh. maybe our government should consider this then there will be no finger-pointing and blame game everytime there is a breakdown.
this is the entrance gate. the tall building behind is where the tomb is.
a marble pillar which has turned red. reason? the japanese spashed red paint on it before they left.
the end of the tomb visit. on the way back to the city, 2 more stops to 'shop' or one of the members of our tour group called them the rip shops. haha. his wife bought quite a lot in these shops. of course lah, they are now residing in london. use english pounds. 1pound=14RMB. everything also cheap.
crystal shop.
demonstrating the clarity of crystal. this old man is bilingual. can speak in english too albeit the not so accurate sounds.
shop shop shop. haha... but nothing is better than the swarovski pendant i was wearing throughout the trip lah. one of the ladies in the bus and her daughter couldn't stop admiring it. talking about swarovski, the summer online sale is coming soon, so do visit the online store from time to time not to miss the sale.from the crystal shop, we moved on the beijing bao shu tang sci-tech pharmaceutical co. it is quite a famous one. even mom knows when i showed her the cream. their famous cream is bao fu ling. it is used to treat burns most effectively. so no prize for guessing who i got the cream for. siew, it is going your way with shirley's mom this weekend. will upload a video i took of one of the staff there demonstrating the effectiveness of the cream. they were really burning the chain on fire and then the palm made a swipe on the chain and we could all smell burning skin. she quikcly apply a thick layer of bao fu ling cream, and about 10 mins later, her palm had no deep burnt mark but only a slight reddish mark. i heard from others who got it that it was really effective too. i paid RMB125 for that jar of cream ah.
hehe...tired from climbing the great wall. so of course took this opportunity to get some free treatment lah. they massaged the brand's herbal essence onto the calf and then stuck plasters onto it. felt a cooling sensation running through. nice. they gave us each 2 small plasters to bring home too. i put one on the back the next night because it felt strained and the back muscles did not feel as tight. not bad la. but i din get any. not sure if they were expensive or effective. when i came back, mom asked why i din buy. sigh...next time lah...anyone going to beijing tell me lah. i am sure they will bring u to bao shu tang as well. it is one of the designated places which they did not tell you beforehand but would surely bring you to. you can't get the medicine of this brand elsewhere because they do not let others sell it. there are many imitation ones outside. mom said some chinese ladies who came also sell them.
bao shu tang demo and sales room.
a poster showing the factory and office.
2 comments:
thanks for the cream!!!
Well said.
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