Blogs from Great Wall of China, Beijing, China, Asia
May 21st 2012
How many times you can go to the Great Wall in your life? Is it fair that it rained? I have a great time. Amazing experience shooting for my video school project on my white elementary school uniform around local chinese people trying to sell me things thinking I was a doctor. The rains arrived and I walk around my blue umbrella. Hiking there could be challenging, specially the areas with really old steps. I took an organized trip to get to this far away park, 3 hours from Beijing, the lunch meal was included but it was the worst thing I eat so far. At 5 pm I was again in my hostel. After the rain I feel chili and getting a cold, not again!!! So I search for a vegetarian restaurant recommended in many ... read more
May 1st 2012
Draft for Tues. May 1 China National holiday I realize that today is going to be a do-very-little day for me as getting around the city will be difficult. I got up early, more or less, and sent some emails and tended to this blog; am packed for 4:00pm departure for Beijing S. Railway Station. Because of the national holiday, there is no metro running. I have to take a taxi which will cost about Y40 or so! We’ll see -- turns out to be right on the mark, or the Yuan. Need to pay up at hostel 4 days @Y200/day -- waste of money for this dirt trap of a Sun Garden hostel, No. 19Dongsi Qi Tiao Dongcheng District Beijing -- wi-fi password tianyuan2005laoxu. (Do not bother go there and what is more hostel will ... read more
May 1st 2012
There is no visiting Beijing without seeing the Great Wall of China. If I could run it, I would cover more ground. The search for the Great Wall run was on. Googled Great Wall marathon. Bam, perfect. As I looked further into it, this requires all participants to be on their 2-wk tour. Shacks. Going down the Google list, I ran into another one – Great Wall of China Marathon. Yet further research and contacting the organizers confirmed that GWCM had no tour requirement. What's more, the course was almost entirely on the wall whereas the other one runs, for the most part, through villages. Even more, this one took place in more scenic section of the Great Wall. Perfect, I'd be able to run it! Sightsee with water support, a brilliant idea! It would be ... read more
Day 5 - The Really Great Wall and Donkey Dumplings
Published: April 4th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Great Wall of China
April 4th 2012
Got up early to test our "secret gate" to the Summer Palace. Upon entry we were a little surprised to see that other Chinese may have had there own method of early access. Still, there were not many people and our smaller team of Stel, Sin and me took advantage of the perfect blue sky weather and shutter clicked our way to the entrance of the palace itself where we patiently waited for the ticket office to open. We certainly beat the crowds and were the first sprinkle of nomads to get to the top. Back to the hotel for a hearty non-Chinese breakfast of granola, blueberry pancakes and eggs florentine, and then off to the Great Wall. Stel had done the Wall before, so decided to take the opportunity to use the day to catch ... read more
April 3rd 2012
A great day for turning another year older but still as clueless about the world. We woke up early and I let my roommate Brooke have the shower first so I can sneak a little bit of sleep. It wasn't freezing as I dreaded rather the heater can cook you with the hot water. Good thing she also changed her mind about not taking the cable car. Or else I wouldn't have lasted as long. You do not take the cable car for the scenery but for saving yourself some energy in the climbing part. It was a little past 8 and the wall was already crowded with tourist. The Chinese are having a 3-day holiday. I would say the people there were over 90% locals. The great thing about the wall is that it goes ... read more
March 28th 2012
Hey everyone!!! =) Today we went to to Great Wall Of China!!!! :D :D :D :D The wall was HUGE!!!!! It was over 6 000 kilometers long! We all went to the highest point of the Great Wall. It was really neat to be on the wall. Dad, Parker and I walked the furthest along the wall. It was a long hike back up to where Mom was, but it was totaly worth it!!! =) We took a gondola up and down to the Great Wall. Then going down we saw a camel. Parker and I got our picuters taken on top of the camel. He was very fuzzy =) The pictures turned out great and Mom was very happy! We also saw people making cloisonne too. It was very cool to see. There was a ... read more
Day 2 in Beijing - The Great Wall
Published: February 27th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Great Wall of China
February 25th 2012
We had initially planned to hike from Jinshanling to Simatai... Thankfully we checked with the Concierge before heading out and found out that Simatai was closed for restoration! We opted to go to the Great Wall at Mutianyu over the one at Badaling as the latter is supposed to be more toursity and crowded. This was a great choice with the cable cars/gondolas as well as the toboggan descent!... read more
Punch it Margaret, this is China!
Published: March 9th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Great Wall of China
February 19th 2012
Catapulted into the political epicenter after 18 hours of travel, the patriotism is super palpable in Beijing. Over the next four days, I tip-toe around religious topics and some seemingly very personal political topics ( IMO: the influence of Mao is still totally alive.) But everything else is fair game and multi-questioned; mostly revolving around my age, nationality, why I'm traveling alone and my hair-of all things. What, bleach blond isn’t the norm? Nope. Many people: mostly school girls giving peace signs, and tiny toothy old men, the lingering ladies and then…the eye-ballin' creeps-every country’s got ‘em. (tip: move swiftly and loudly if persistent.) Well, they’ve never seen anyone with blond hair, ever. It only got super weird once in the History museum in Shanghai. Started out fairly normal, they gesture to ask if I'll take ... read more
Our Journey to Mutianyu, the Great Wall of China
Published: February 24th 2012Asia » China » Beijing » Great Wall of China
February 16th 2012
On the first full day of our trip, we woke up with sore backs thanks to the rock hard bed in our hotel (apparently this is the norm in china, so we knew to expect this). Despite this, we were feeling energized and excited thanks to the fact that we were going to be at the Great Wall of China in a few brief hours! Our transportation was arranged for 9am, so we wandered the streets for a bit to find an ATM that would work with our Debit Card as well as a spot for breakfast (the hotel wanted the equivalent of $8 Canadian each! In Stephs opinion, way too much!). We had no luck with the ATM, as there were none in the area we quickly scoured. We were able to grab lattes for ... read more
January 27th 2012
I could write a lot about the Great Wall. I did my best to write about it in my paper journal. Here are excerpts from my journal, which can probably best put into words my thoughts on this World Heritage Site. "The drive to the Great Wall was a long and winding one. According to Griff, it makes the Sea to Sky Highway in BC feel smooth. The Great Wall tour did not include the cable car ticket. We could've walked, but our time there was limited. The cable car was 80¥, and you had the option of taking either the cable car or a toboggan down. Yes, a toboggan. :D The Great Wall was incredible! I am still in awe over it. The steps are all different sizes. Some were tiny baby steps, whereas others ... read more
