After quite an second day in Beijing I was so excited to be visiting the Great Wall. When I was younger, I remember my mom taking a girls trip to Beijing with her mom and sisters and feeling so jealous I couldn’t go along. A week later they came home with souvenirs and stories galore. Since then Beijing, and the Great Wall specifically, have been on my bucket list.
It was an early start to the day and we made it to the wall by about 10 am. When we got off the bus we had the opportunity to take a cable car up to the top. Initially, I had been hoping to hike up, but after seeing how much of a climb it really entailed, I was so happy to have trusted the guide and opted for the open cable car option instead. The ski lift style cable car dropped us off right at the top of the Mutianyu section of the great wall.
We were greeted by a fantastic look out point and beautiful blue skies. I couldn’t have asked for better weather that day. We had about two and a half hours to really explore the wall. It was incredible to walk through some of the fortresses and see the history of the country. One of my favorite moments was seeing a father showing his young son the small windows in the wall and explaining to him how they were used back when the wall was built. While I’m sure the facts that he was sharing are pretty depressing, the moment was sweet.
When it was time to go back down there were two options; take the cable car to the bottom or a toboggan. I chose the toboggan. It was essentially a metal slide that you get to ride down the mountain on and drops you off perfectly right where you started.
About halfway through the day it was time for lunch, another fantastic traditional Chinese restaurant, and then off to the airport for my flight to Tokyo. Traveling Beijing was a remarkable experience that I feel so lucky to have had, and having the opportunity to tour the Great Wall was something I’ll never forget.
I had received strict instructions the night before to meet my tour guide at an adjacent hotel down the street at 8:10 a.m., which is where I was introduced to Mike, our tour guide for the day. I’d signed up for some small group tours to try to get the most out of my limited time in Beijing, however, when the van door opened it became clear that I would more likely be intruding on a family’s private tour. With just four of us in the group, I met two lovely sisters along with one of their sons who were touring Beijing and Mongolia on holiday from the Philippines. They could not have been more lovely. We spent the day exploring the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Summer Palace, with a quick lunch in between.
After the Forbidden City we moved on to the Temple of Heaven. This time Mike gave us a brief overview of the history and then allowed us to explore the temple for ourselves. The coloring of this structure stood out to me as it was blue rather than red which covers most of the structures we visited. As I learned, blue was used to symbolize Heaven throughout the buildings which really made it stand out in my mind compared to everywhere else we visited.
Following lunch we made the drive to see the Summer Palace. It was immense and incredible. We didn’t cover nearly a fraction of it, and that is something I would go back to Beijing to see more of. But Mike led us around explaining to us the history of the 17-arch bridge and the palace itself, happily answering any questions we asked. I have to say I think my favorite part of the day was getting to chat with him about his life in Beijing and his passion for Chinese history.
bbm travels 