Great Wall of China-- the Mutianyu section

Here it is!  The real reason I went to China.  The Great Wall!

There is more than one place to see the Great Wall from Beijing.  There are several sections, some more preserved than others.  The closest section to Beijing is the Bedaling section.  It is also flatter, and easier to walk, thus making it more crowded.  I opted for the Mutianyu section, about 70 km from Beijing.  Not only was it further, it is also a steeper climb.  I wanted more wall and less people.

I booked a tour through Viator.com.  It was a small group tour, no more than 12 people.  I thought that would be better than going with a large bus full of people.  I showed up at the appointed hotel at 6:45 am, and waited for the tour guides.  And waited.  I finally called one of the numbers I had been given, and I obviously woke the girl up.  She told me there were no tours scheduled for that day!!  Now this was my only day to see the Great Wall, so I was not happy with their mistake.  I asked if there was any other way I could see the Great Wall, and she said there was a private tour scheduled for later that morning.  They had to check with that guy and see if he would let me tag along.  Luckily he did, and luckily he turned out to be a friendly guy.  So it turned out to be a tour of two, which was even better!  And I got a partial refund.

Here is a map of this section of the Great Wall.

The entrance to the Mutianyu section of the wall.

You have to park outside the entrance, and you take a bus to the base of the trail to the wall.  You may then climb up to the wall, or ride this cable car up.  RIDE THE CABLE CAR!  No one is going to give you brownie points if you climb up.  Trust me, there is plenty of climbing to be had.  Oh, as you can see, it was a cool and rainy day.  It pretty much rained the whole day.  But that certainly did not 'dampen' the experience.  Pun intended.  :)

My first glimpse of the wall.

That is Kevin on the left, my companion for the day.

I am not sure if it was because it was Tuesday, or rainy, or just this section, but there were very few other people.  I really need to find a smaller camera.  I would have just carried my camera around my neck, but I wanted my other lens, and I didn't want the camera to get wet.

The Great Wall was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1646).  Our guide told us that these holes were the same shape at the soldiers' helmets.  If there was a battle, a soldier could put his helmet there to plug the hole.  But as a soldier, I wouldn't want to be without my helmet in a battle!

These buildings along the way served as guardhouses and living quarters for the soldiers.

I am fond of pictures through doorways and windows.  Just a warning.

There was no graffiti in any other part of the wall.  This was actually left from a popular Chinese movie filmed here.

This gate was built in 1404.

Living quarters

All you can see from the wall are mountains!  Well, in one spot you could see a town far down in the valley.

In some spots, you could climb to the top of the guard houses.  In the distance, you can see the steepest parts of the wall.  The whole distance of wall that can be walked or climbed at Mutianyu is about two miles.  That is not to say that you have to walk the whole distance or that you have to climb the steepest parts.  Kevin wanted to climb to the end, and the guide and I just hung around.  I enjoyed that time soaking in the views and taking more pictures.  (Okay, that time the pun was not intended, although I was pretty much soaking at this point.)

If you look closely, you can see the orange cable cars.

We spent a couple of hours on the wall.  At some point we had to decide how to get back down.  There is more that one place to get down.  We could walk another 20 minutes or so to the other set of cable cars (there is also a toboggan slide you can go down, but it was not open due to rain) or we could walk 20 minutes down the steps.  We climbed down the steps.

This trip to the Great Wall exceeded my expectations.  Great experience!  But a tiring one.

I was looking forward to going back to my nice hotel and soaking in the tub.  But Kevin wanted to see the Olympic stadium, and since he was gracious enough to let me come along on his trip, I agreed.  I had actually seen it from a distance on my Beijing tour.  But I have to admit, it was cool to see close up.

This is what they call the 'Water Cube', where Michael Phelps won all his gold medals.  

Me, in front of the Olympic stadium, or 'Bird's Nest'.  

Because of our stop at the stadium, we were now in rush hour and it took two hours to get back to my hotel!  5 million cars on the road in Beijing does not make for smooth travel.

Next on the agenda?  Shanghai!!