The Sacred Way

Sunday afternoon in Beijing we experienced the worst traffic of any day in China.  The trucks, buses and cars jammed the roads.  We left The Great Wall to have lunch at a government run tourist trap/restaurant, complete with Buddha. It took about 15 minutes just to make the left hand turn into the parking area.  There was no light at the intersection and trucks and buses were going every which way, in no orderly fashion.  At one point our tour director went out and helped a policeman direct traffic, with the group cheering him on.  It was a real cultural experience in a city of 16 million!
From there we went to The Sacred Way...a beautiful park near the Ming Tombs where most of the Ming emperors are buried.  It was very pretty AND we had the place to ourselves...quiet, peaceful, no cars, trucks or buses, and no teeming masses.
With the heavy traffic we had to cut our visit short and did not get to see the Tombs of the 13 emperors buried there from 1368 to 1644.  On our way back into Beijing, we saw that traffic was being stopped at the entrances on the other side of the expressway...for miles.  Suddenly, we knew why...an entourage of SUV's and fancy buses filled with high ranking dignitaries...and they surely had the right of way.  After a tasty but quick supper, most of us went to The Legend of KungFu...a colorful, dramatic, exciting show with great stunts and fabulous costumes...all very fun.  The star posed for pictures before the production, but we could not take pictures in the theater.
It was a long but memorable day!