No matter how many impressive statistics you cite about the Great Wall of China – 2,000 years of construction, more than 3,000 miles long, 1/5 the population of Chinese men building the epic structure (many of their bodies are entombed in the wall itself) – seeing the Wall for the first time is simply stunning. Today’s journey saw us visiting the most heavily tourist’ed sections of the Great Wall at Badaling and Mintiayu, what many refer to as China’s “Disney World.”
At 8:00 am, our China Mojo’ers hooked up in the Jade Garden lobby with a wonderful tour guide named Lily – vivacious, energetic and very knowledgeable – for a van ride to the Great Wall of China. Lily lives in a downtown hutong neighborhood “full of bars – the only one in all Beijing!” and regaled us with stories about Chinese history and culture on the way out of town (we bonded with her right away).
The China Mojo party bus, with Mr. Hao (our driver) and Lily our fabulous tour guide.
The China Mojo party bus - to the Great Wall, we go.
90 minutes later, we arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall – the most popular section of the entire Wall for both domestic and international tourists. The parking lot was crammed with visitors already, mostly Chinese bus caravaners who had been up early to see the “Morning with Mao” 7:00 am ceremony at Tianan’men and were making the tourist rounds. Lily explained to use that this section of the Wall was still considered to be a part of the city of Beijing, and after walking through dozens of tourist shacks selling everything from roasted corn to “MaoBama” Tees, we hit the wall for an hour of hiking. The morning dawned beautiful – bright and clear – and our China Mojo group took full advantage of the day to capture some fabulous photos and experience the epic nature of the Great Wall of China firsthand.
The Great Wall @ Badaling - the most visited portion.
Lily ran an excellent tour, keeping us moving without being pushy, and excited about sharing China with us. We dropped back towards Beijing for a 1 hour stop at JuYong Pass, the strategic defensive position built to try and keep invaders at bay (with mixed success), and then toured the largest Jade factory (and showroom) in all of Asia as part of our lunch stop, where we learned how Chinese jade is obtained, manufactured, and finished, as well as receiving a lesson on how to tell real jade from fake imitation (hint: looks for jade’s cloudiness when you hold it up to the light, and listen for jade’s high-pitched timbre when you tap it with a metal rod).
A delicious Chinese lunch of chicken, pork, meat, veggies and dumplings, washed down with some Yanjing beer, and we were back in the van for a snooze and our second visit to the Great Wall at Mutianyu.
My first visit to the Great Wall of China was at Mutianyu several years ago, and I remembered the steep mountain drive and the 1,000 stairs of climbing it took to even access this section of the Wall. Looking at my watch, I knew we would be racing the darkness to get up to this section of the Wall. Fortunately, Lily had thought ahead. Can you say “ski lift ride to the top of the Great Wall?” Oh yes. I knew you could. And even better? An Alpine Slide ride down to the bottom, after 1 hour of exploration along the Wall in the late afternoon light – a bit hazy, but beautiful nonetheless.
Jen sketching with friend at Mitianyu.
The Great Wall of China @ Mitianyu.
The last highlight of our daylong tour saw us visiting the 2008 Olympic Center for a photo shoot of the “bird’s nest” and the “water cube,” stunningly lit up in the fading light of early evening, and a 20 minute tea ceremony at downtown Beijing’s “Dr. Tea” establishment. Tea is one of China’s great gifts to the world, and our beautiful and articulate hostesses gave us “Tea 101” in a humorous and accessible way – the perfect way to end our day. Ask ‘em about “Pee Pee Boy.”
2008 Olympics Site - the "Water Cube" sports center.
Dr. Tea's traditional 20 minute tea ceremony, complete with "Pee Pee Boy."
Back at the hotel, Mojo split up for various dinner strategies. Catherine, Katrina and I grabbed Hunan for dinner at a place Lily recommended near our hotel - spicy chicken, beef and beans, paired with scallion’ed egg pancake bread and Chinese beer. Hen Hao!
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