Blogs from The Great Wall, China, Asia
April 17th 2012
An early start this morning to head to the Great Wall. While we were originally scheduled to go to the Huang Ya Guan section that is 3 hours away, it was changed to the Mutianyu section, only 90 minutes away. The drive out was fairly monotonous, with no information from Our guide for the day, Cecelia. Once we arrived, Cecelia purchased our tickets, handed them to us and said "You go up this way. See you again in four hours!" Lyle and I were both shocked that our tour guide was not going to be our 'tour guide'. Nonetheless, we headed up the slope, with innumerable steps up to the Wall. Less physical people can opt to take a cable car or chair lift. The Wall was fantastic and exactly what I had expected. It was ... read more
December 19th 2011
Okay, what can I possibly say about the Great Wall of China that millions have not already said? Who can come to Beijing and not see the Great Wall? My husband and I didn’t take a guided tour of China. We decided to “do” Beijing on our own, which I know is ambitious and sounds crazy. Part of our adventure was discovering areas that were off the beaten path. We also got to take our time with some of the key attractions such as the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven which made our trip that much more special. For the Great Wall, we ended up taking a guided tour. When we were at the airport we got one of those guides and I sent them an email inquiring about prices and dates. The hotel tours ... read more
August 24th 2011
So today was day that we were all looking forward to. This was the day we were finally hiking the Great Wall. We all piled into two different vans and traveled for two hours into the country side. Once we got to the bottom of the Great Wall we were all speechless looking at one of the 8th wonders of the world. We had to cross a dam where our steps were literally little rocks that were not welded down or anything. So after each step we felt the rocks move. Once we crossed that we got to a little hole in the wall and had to climb up a 20 foot ladder into a window in the Great Wall. The ladder itself was held by two stones and we’ll call it the ladder of death. ... read more
August 7th 2011
So today we were up at 5.30am to go on our first trip of the tour, this one is what we have organised ourselves as the tour doesn't officially begin until tomorrow. Today we headed to a remote and unrestorted part of the Great Wall of China with two other girls on the tour. It was a three hour drive there which was why we were picked up so early, but it was completely worth the early start, complete with a FREE McDonalds breakfast (unlucky James, we went travelling for 10 months and never got a free McD's!). The journey out there was uneventful, and on arrival we were directed to the cable cars up to the Wall, and what a sight it was! Miles and miles as far as the eye could see of this ... read more
July 30th 2011
today we visited the great wall. one of china's most famous structure. apart from being one of the 7 wonders of the world, the great wall is also one of the oldest. the full great wall was not built until 226 B.C when the first emperor of china ordered all of the walls protecting china's cities to be connected; this created the great wall. the wall its self is thousands of years old. with no original date of construction. this will probably be one of the most beautiful places you visit. as well as the most tiring. ... read more
October 5th 2010
This weekend the larger part of my group went to hike the Great Wall. It was a two hour bus ride to reach the wall and the weather wasn't so great, lots of smog but it was definitely good to be out of the city. The part of the wall we went to is called Jin Shan Ling which is means Golden Mountain Fort but in the past the wall was actually known as the Sand Hills Fort. The name was changed when it was restored in the 60's to attract more tourists. We climbed to the wall on an old stone path which while not the steepest hike of the day might have been the longest ascent of the day. As soon as we reached the top of the wall a group of locals started ... read more
September 22nd 2010
I definatly kept the best for last, I just loved the wall! As the Simatai part is closed for renovation sine 17th June, the bus took us to another part, Jinshaling, apparently more authentic. Only the first 5 or 10 minutes were renovated, then the ground became very unequal with briks and sand. It definatly isn't an easy hike as most of the time it's steep up or down. But it's a magnificent view, you see the wall going over the hill. I was so happy that I changes my date as we had the perfect weather, nice and sunny. Before Simatai closed, this was one of the least visited parts of the wall, this will probably change now. But whatever you do, don't go to Badaling as that is the most crowded part of the ... read more
July 25th 2010
I have not been the biggest fan of our Saturday Forced Family Fun activities, where we spend a lot of time waiting for people, argue about where to go and dive headfirst into tourist traps. However, this past Saturday's trip to the Great Wall was AWESOME! We went to the Jinshanling 金山铃 section, a few hours away from Beijing. We also visited a nearby Catholic village where they had pictures of Jesus on the walls.... read more
July 12th 2010
Saturday July 10, 2010 We were to meet the driver in the hotel lobby at 7am Saturday morning to head to The Great Wall with Frank. The driver would pick us up and then we would travel to Frank's home to pick him up about a half hour away. We were up bright and early got on our most comfortable climbing gear and heading downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast was ok still very bland but at least they had some western food. We headed out of the hotel right at 7am and proceeded to pick up Frank. We were so honored that Frank took his Saturday to show us The Great Wall and other parts of Beijing. You see, Frank is a newly wed and has been sent to Southern China on temporary assignment for 18 months. ... read more
