China #4 - THE GREAT WALL

Of course if you go to China, you much see the Great Wall. After a little research, we decided to go to the Mutianyu portion of the wall. This decision was mostly based on the fact that they had a slide (toboggan) that we could take down the mountain after walking on the Great Wall. I mean, a slide...the decision couldn't be an easier one!

Getting to Mutianyu was a little interesting, so here are a few details in case you ever want to go. If you don't, just skip to the next paragraph! We took Line 1 of the subway to the Dongzhimen stop and went to the big bus transfer station. At the bus transfer station, look for bus #916. There will probably be a long line and the ticket will be about $2 (11 RMB). You'll take this bus for about an hour out of Beijing. Here's where it gets interesting. About an our into our trip, we made a stop and this man came on the bus and told us to get off so we could take us to the Great Wall. It happened so fast and we were a little confused, but it turned out to be what we needed to do. This man took us right where we needed to be (it was about 30-45 minutes away) and waited for us to finish our time on the wall so he could take us back to the bus stop. It seemed a little sketchy at first, but it turned out to be good...this is why I wanted to tell you in case you decide to go. The 'taxi' trip ended up costing us about $11 (70 RMB) each, which I think is pretty darn good.

Ok, back to the Wall. Once we arrived at the Great Wall, we took a cable car up the mountain so we could actually walk on the Wall. It's incredible to think about the Great Wall and how it is built on mountain tops...so not only did these people building this incredible wall, they had to climb mountains to do so. We opted to take the cable car up instead of climbing..it was a hot, nasty day so it would have been gross! Here are some shots once we were on the Great Wall.

After walking this section of the Great Wall, you can either take a gondola down or you can ride the toboggan. We were super excited for the slide!! It doesn't seem to be overly-advertised, so we were glad to read about it online before we went. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have known about it.

Some shoes that these girls were wearing shocked me. I was in tennis shoes and my feet still hurt...I can't even imagine being in flats.

Here's Kami tobogganing in front of me.

So was the Great Wall really that great?? I'd say so. It's really incredible to see and to think about. I can't imagine being a part of the construction...I bet it was crazy. If you get a chance, definitely go down the slide...it's a great cap for the experience.