Travelogue - Great Wall of China

In April, I visited China for the first time. China's only a few hours away from Singapore, and yet I've never given much thought about visiting it. 

Prior to my trip, I did have certain apprehensions. Was I going to be able to communicate with the locals in my halting Mandarin? Would the city be crowded and jam packed with people? Were the people there friendly? More importantly, what was the toilet situation like. I honestly did not know what to expect. Nonetheless, I decided to ultimately toss my worries aside and conquer the Forbidden City. 

I visited the Great Wall on my second day in Beijing, which was a Friday. Luckily for us, it wasn't too crowded, but there were lots of children on school trips. After much research and deliberation (because of transportation and communication issues) we decided to head to the Mutianyu Section of the wall. 

Lots of research and map printing was done to enable to safe journey. But as it turned out, our worries were unfounded. It was a breeze to get there. We took bus 916 Express from the Bus Terminal in Beijing and the helpful bus driver told us where to get off. Once we were at the small city of HuaiRou, we hopped onto a minivan together with an American couple and some Hong Kong guys who were also heading to the wall. Our driver was nice enough to wait for us to finish exploring the wall before sending us back to HuaiRou where we would once again take the bus back. The minivan cost us 12SGD per person for a return journey. 

Unfortunately the weather that day was a little smoggy which meant that we could not see far into the distance. One of the few reasons we chose Mutianyu was because they had a ski lift up and a toboggan down. This meant that we didn't have to spend time and energy hiking up to the great wall, and that we would have a blast on the way down. 

Do remember to bring enough water and food as the small stalls along the wall are overpriced. If you're savvy in bargaining, it's a must! I spent the day lugging 2 litres of water around in my bagpack, which probably added to the difficulty of climbing. So, make a good estimate :) You probably will need more in summer though.

Since the ski lift and toboggan are at the same area, we had to make sure that we had enough time and energy to head back. We chose to hike/walk for about 8 towers and back. Along the way we got to see many trees in bloom and secluded sections of the wall. I was marvelled by how the wall was made by hand. Sections of the wall were really steep, and I huffed and puffed my way up, only to be rewarded by a lovely view. 

Also, friends who had climbed the wall before, kept telling me to go for a massage after the Great Wall. My legs did hurt the next day, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. I mean, I've had worse muscle aches before (especially after the one time I decided to do the Nike 10k Run). Do make sure to wear very comfortable shoes though. 

We took about 3 hours to hike 8 towers and back, including a taking a rest to refill on energy. 

Finally, it was time to head back and toboggan down from the Great Wall. We had to queue for about 30minutes as everyone else was heading down. The entire ride down lasted for slightly more than 10 minutes. It was beyond awesome as you get to control your own speed (as long as you do not crash into the person in front of you). Since the person in front of me kept breaking to take photos, I decided to do the same. 

The Great Wall of China was definitely an experience I'll remember. It exceeded my expectations! 

But will I ever head back to the Great Wall again? Not in the near future.