I left for Beijing with my classmate Maria on a Thursday to spend a long weekend there. The weather forecast foretold that Friday should be sunny, so we accommodated our sightseeing plan accordingly - ie. lots of walking and staying outdoors ---> lots of sun ---> replenishment of vitamin D supplies (and maybe a shy hint of a tan). Our main touristy destinations included the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City - and the Great Wall of China. There was no contest which destination we'd want to experience on the sunniest day promised, so off to the Wall it was on Friday.
We decided on the Mutianyu section in Huairou since it is supposedly a bit more serene than the Badaling section, but still offers nice views and lots to look at. We ended up taking a bus from Beijing South to Huairou, then haggling with a minibus driver for the rest of the way. All in all, getting to Mutianyu cost around 100 yuan - which is considerably more than the cost to get to Badaling (12 yuan altogether for a train!). But, I think it was worth it given the fact that there were not all that many people at Mutianyu on the day we hit the Wall - one thing you learn to appreciate when in China: some peace and quiet with not all that many people surrounding you! As a foreigner, crowds usually also mean that you end up getting photographed quite a lot - in secret, paparazzi-style, as well as accompanied with requests to pose for pictures with someone. You might feel chuffed at first ("Really? Me??? You WANT to take a picture of ME?"), but believe me, it all gets old really fast. And the funniest thing is, there might be an ancient national relic near by and all of a sudden you notice that they have been taking pictures of YOU all along. It is very weird.
Well, anywho, we ended up walking up the hill to the Wall, then walking on the Wall to the right all the way til the end of the official section and a bit further on in a closed-off area to discover some very nice views with more closed-off sections heading out further - they say that you can get on overnight treks where they will take you through the closed-off sections. It is a 10K trip and I imagine would cost you a "little" bit more than the 45 yuan they charge you for the admission to the Wall. After a photo session we backtracked and went the other way almost to the end of the official section (the official section is 3K from end to end), had a short break and headed back down the hill by foot. 4,5 hours on the Wall and it was worth it!
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Shanghai Hong Qiao railway station. Yes, it IS like an airport. Crazy. |
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Heading up on foot! |
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Keep going... |
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The Wall! You can almost see the end of the Mutianyu section, it is around the hump in the distance. |
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Some views. This is what it is all about. |
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A moment on the Wall. |
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My mum warned me about the steps. Yes. They are challenging at times - they can be high enough to reach almost to your knee and there can be about a zillion of them. In any case, be prepared. |
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It is very quiet on the Wall. |
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A happy tourist! |
P.S. I did try to upload more photos, but there seem to be some problems with either the connection or the user interface of blogger.com (NOT the user, never). If I can, I will try to fix this post later by including more photos.
The weather (or the smog situation) seems to have been much better now than when we visited the Mutianyu wall. We could hardly see the next watch tower and were a bit disappointed. -milla
ReplyDeleteBooo :((
ReplyDeleteI think we got really lucky. The weather was warm and all in all perfect!
WAU!! mitkä näköalat ja maisemat...
ReplyDeleteOot mitä ilmeisemmin viihtynyt siellä hyvin?
Terkkuja meiltä kaikilta, kivaa että oot tehnyt blogin, tätä seuraillaan jatkossa :))
-Sanna
kyllä se muuri vaan oli vaikuttava! taisin ottaa 400 kuvaa pelkästään siellä...
ReplyDeleteviihdytty ollaan, kiinassa on niin paljon näkemistä! jos matkabudjetti ei niin rajoittaisi, niin olisihan tässä hienoa piipahtaa mm. silkkitielläkin, mutta jäänee seuraavaan kertaan :) eniten odotan keltaisen vuoren reissua, joka olisi edessä hieman ennen kotiinlähtöä!
kiitos terveisistä ja isosti terkkuja takaisin (erityisesti ainolle ;D)!