The Incredible Wall of China

Certainly one of the many highlights of the trip, today we visited the Great Wall; Specifically, the Mutianyu Section. Thank you Alex for telling us what portion of the wall to see as we were not disappointed!

At first we did not know the best way to get to the wall as Mutianyu is 1.5 hours away from downtown Beijing. After asking the front desk at our hostel, they conveniently were able to set up a tour for us the next day: including an English speaking tour guide as well as lunch!

According to multiple weather websites, we were due for some rain during our entire stay here in Beijing. I must say, this is one of the few times I have enjoyed when the weather predictions were incorrect! The only odd weather we faced today was fog in the upper section of the wall, so no complaints from us.

After riding a gondola to the 20th tower, we were set free to wander the wall as long as we were back to the bottom for lunch at 1:40pm. So we did just that! We began our trek upwards to where the guide told us was the highest section of the wall in Mutianyu, the 23rd tower. It wasn't so bad getting past the first couple towers until we hit a winding wall of stairs leading into the mist. So began a rather daunting, and sweaty, task to reach the peak. Below are some pictures of the Great Wall as well as a 360 video of us walking along it:

Once we finally reached the top, I was drenched in sweat. Only then did we realize that we were still on the refurbished section of the wall. Since this was a rare opportunity, we mustered up the strength the carry on and see the old section of the wall. Further and further up we went until plants and trees began to overtake the path in front of us. Portions of the wall began to go missing as we trudged forward. That was when we realized how incredible this place really was and how few people have actually seen this portion, the real deal, of the wall. It was truly a serene feeling being up there, only us fools, after squirming our way through a crowd of foreinors just hours prior.

Then and there in our moment of bliss did we realize the time, 1:20 pm and above tower 25. So began the great decent down the Great Wall! How many people can say they have run along the Great Wall of China? Can't imagine there being too many!

So we snaked our way down, had a few quick conversations to convince others to visit the upper towers and then continued our jog/run to make it to lunch. We hopped in line for the gondola (longest time spent in line and on the gondola) and made it down to the restaurant by 2:03pm. What took us several hours to ascend and admire only took us approximately 40 minutes, including hang ups, to get down!

Impressed by our time, even though we were late, we pigged out on some delicious traditional Chinese food. Soaked in sweat, we outlasted the rest of the group at our table (family style). After we cleaned up shop, we made our way back to the van and headed home to our hostel. What an incredible day at one of the seven wonders of the world!

Tomorrow we visit the Summer Palace, then Tokyo! Stay up to date by subscribing.