Trip to the Great Wall of China at Badaling, near Beijing and the Ming Tombs

I was lucky enough to take a trip to the Great Wall at Badaling (I've been also to the Simatai access point, which is much less traveled). This section is the most traveled, and is heavily renovated. It was the first section opened to tourism, and even had the honorable Dick Nixon visited once.

There are numerous public transport methods to get to Badaling since it's so popular, so if you don't have access to a car or a tour company, it should be easier than Simatai.

The trip starts with a cable car to the wall or you can also just hike up, but this takes 2 - 3 hours. We took the cable car, which makes it a very quick trip.

The wall is absolutely beautiful in this spot.

Waiting in line for the cable car:

Here's what the cable cars look like.

Near the top!

The great wall is absolutely stunning.

There are tons of people on the great wall at Badaling. At Simatai, there are less people.

It gets packed at the towers because Chinese don't like being in the sun.

Plus everyone has to take some snaps in the windows.

You must admit they are pretty!

This is a famous rock with Mao's inscription: "You are not brave / tough guy unless you can climb all 8 towers." People lined up to take photos with it.

Class "A" tourist sites in China have too many people.

Damn Koreans!

Now for some of the Ming Tombs. There are a total of 13 different tombs inside a valley on the outskirts of Beijing. There are only 3 tombs that are open to visit, the most important two being the Changling and Dingling tombs. It's a very spread out valley, so you have to drive between each tomb to visit. You can also visit what's called the sacred way, a path used to walk to the different tombs.

Here's a plaque discussing the Changling tomb:

Here is the large "Blessings and Grace Palace," where Ming Dynasty people would make offerings to Emperor Zhu Di.

Here is inside Changling Tomb's building, the "Blessing and Grace Palace."

There are some nice hats inside.

And silverware.

A copper statue of Emperor Zhu Di.

There is a small tunnel in the Changling tomb, but it hasn't been excavated so you can't go inside.

Don't use your cell phone - this valley has a lot of Qi!

The valley was chosen using Feng Shui (wind-water), a type of geomancy.

The Dingling (ling means tomb) is the only excavated tomb, which was done as a sort of practice before they would do the Changling tomb, which is of the more famous emperor, Zhu Di. Zhu Di had originally moved the capital to Beijing and established the site for the Ming Tombs. The Ding tomb was for emperor Zhu Yijun, also known as the Wanli emperor, which means "Thousand Calendars." He ruled for the longest period during the Ming Dynasty, 48 years, and witnessed much of its decline.

You come up to the tomb, which is square in the front and round in the back, symbolizing the Chinese belief that the earth was square and heaven was round.