The Wall

We chose Mutianyu, because it's slightly farther away from Beijing than Badaling (the closest and most popular wall site) and we wanted something less touristy.

There were three of us and we decided to take a cab rather than figure out the vagaries of the Chinese bus system, which would involve switching buses at least three times. Getting a cab to take us more than an hour out of the city and explaining where we wanted to go and that we wanted to go out there and then have them stay and then take us home was very tricky. We eventually enlisted the help of the hotel desk and a concierge who spoke a little English and set something up for us.

The cab ride was closer to 2 hours because the driver kept getting lost and having to get out and ask for directions and then get back in and turn around and drive back up the road we had just driven down. At one point i heard him muttering under his breath and heard the word "badaling" and I'm SURE he was wishing that we just wanted to go to the closest and most available wall site. Funny how some things translate even when you can't speak the language.

But we finally arrived at the foot of the mountain where you can see the long serpentine wall crawling over the mountains in the distance. You can walk up to the actual wall or take many different types of conveyances. We chose the chair lift for time and it was high off the ground. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe...

Here we are just inside the doorway. Aubrey is on my right and Kirsten on my left. Aubrey is also going to Thailand in a week so we plan to meet up here and there over the next 5 weeks. She's delightful and I'll enjoy traveling with her.

The views are breathtaking. As with other amazing well photographed monuments - like the Grand Canyon - photos don't do it justice.

Mutianyu is known for multiple little parapet guard towers, like small castles here and there throughout it's length.

You can walk through them, go up to their tops and stand on the rooftops overlooking the valleys and mountains and miles and miles of Wall.

Or sit and look out the windows... The stairs are STEEP. And they are all different sizes and shapes... And angles...
Makes for fun optical illusions...

We climbed all over for a couple of hours and met people who had started at Badaling and walked from Badaling to Mutianyu in a couple of hours. They got to see areas of the wall that are normally shut off to tourists because of the decay and danger factor. I wish we had more time to do something like that.

And then we tobogganed down the mountain!
We each got our own sled and you have a hand brake and you just rocket around the curves til you get to the bottom. Definitely an unbeatable way to go down a mountain...
Another of the world's many wonders.

Check.