Fresh faced before the climb!

Mao Zedong once said “He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man”. No trip to Beijing is complete with a visit to the Great Wall of China, one of the New7Wonders of the World! Such beautiful views!

There are three main sections you’re able to visit while in Beijing – Badaling, Mutianyu, or Simatai and Jinshanling. Badaling is the closest to Beijing and also the easiest to walk. This means it’s extremely crowded. Mutianyu is an intermediate walk and a bit further from Beijing (also much less crowded). One site called it the Disney version of the Great Wall, because it’s so well-maintained and preserved. Simatai and Jinshanling are the farthest away and is suitable for “young generations and outdoor professionals”. The paths are a bit wilder and more difficult to climb, but it’s supposed to have the most beautiful views of the three sections.

We took the middle ground and chose Mutianyu. Plus there’s a cablecar to take up and a tobaggan ride to go down at the end! I mentioned already our wonderful hotel – they offer a shuttle service to all three sections of the wall, leaving very early in the morning. I think it took us about 1.5 hours to get to Mutianyu. Even though it’s “intermediate”, 3 km of steps is a lot and we were exhausted by the end! But so so so worth it!

Taking the cable car up to the wall

Starting to get tired

The worst part about going up was realizing we had to come back down the same steps aka crawl down!

Tobaggan ride down!

After our 3 hour walk/climb, our group from the hotel met up again for lunch. We had two tables, and when Koen and I arrived we saw that our group was a bit segregated – one table of English speakers and one table of Chinese. It was an easy choice for us; we arrived late and there were two seats at the Chinese table! Although they didn’t speak much English, we had a lot of fun. I learned I wasn’t using my plates and bowls correctly and everyone wanted to show us the right way. Plus the food was delicious!