The Great Wall

My last update! The Great Wall was, well, pretty great! I've been telling that half-joke for a while now...

It was definitely top 5 of all the things I saw on my trip, though.

The Great Wall stretches into the distance...

Beijing

I planned on making Beijing the big finale, the last leg of my trip. There's so many things to see here: The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Summer Palace, Museums, art galleries. I made it to the main points, but never got to see the mummified corpse of Mao in its shrine. I'm OK with that.

View of the Forbidden City from above.

Xian; The Terracotta Warriors

I loved Xian - the Terracotta Warriors are less of an attraction than the street food you can buy everywhere, but especially in the Muslim Quarter.

Big Goose Pagoda

Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain)

Huang Shan is one of China's biggest tourist attractions. I found this out when I arrived and had to queue for a shuttle bus taking people to the cable car, then move through hordes of eager Chinese families to find the hiking entrance.

It sure was beautiful, and the hike up wasn't too crowded. The top was absolutely nuts though, also a cloud came in so the peak provided no views whatsoever for the 30 mins I waited there.

The lower limits of Huang Shan from 80% of the way up.