Day 3: Ever done this on the Great Wall?

This acrobatic shot was taken at Mutianyu Great Wall (慕田峪). The condition was perfect - cloudy sky, not too hot, and no tourists in sight. So we could not resist the temptation to perform this acrobatic jump.

Getting to Mutianyu was quite an adventure. According to the Rough Guide, there is a daily tourist bus #6 that goes directly to Mutianyu from Beijing at 7-8:30am. When I phoned the tourist office, I was told that bus #6 runs only on weekends and holidays. According to Rough Guie, the alternative is to take a local express bus to Huairo (怀柔) and change for a tourist bus. When we arrived at Huairo, there was no tourist bus to Mutianyu in sight. We ended up hiring a car to get to Mutianyu.

Katy was at Badaling Great Wall (八达岭) many years ago, and she was not fond of it. At certain sections of the wall, it got so crowded that she could barely move her arms without hitting someone. When we arrived at Mutianyu, we were surprised to find so few tourists. Sometimes we were the only people on the wall, a pleasant treat after downtown Beijing. The Great Wall is indeed impressive. You can see watch towers peeking through the cloud miles away on the ridges of the mountains. The specular scene is occasionally disrupted by the screams from the toboggan run. Yes, they put a toboggan run on the Great Wall. A nice marketing gimmick to draw in more tourists, but quite out of place in my opinion.

After walking down the trail to the entrance of the Great Wall (good job on not taking the cable car, Katy), we were negotiating with a few drivers for a ride down to Huairou. Then I met a Chinese lady from Sichuan, who offered us a free ride to Beijing since they have a few empty seats on their vehicle. Later I learned that she was accompanying her Swiss husband and friends from St. Gallen. After a few Grüezi ("hello" in Swiss German), we were invited to have lunch with them. Unfortunately their bus had a flat tire and had to go into town for a repair (90 minutes wait), and we had to rush back to Beijing to arrange our train tickets for our next destinations. So we bused back to Beijing on our own. Thank you, the Swiss people (and especially the lady from Sichuan). You guys are an amazing crowd. I always enjoy meeting people from Switzerland - reminding me of the three years I spent there.

How to get to Mutianyu: Take bus #916 (RMB11) from Dongzhimen Station (1 hr). Get off at Bei Da Jie (or just ask the driver when to get off for Mutianyu), you will be approached by drivers for hire to Mutianyu (RMB35 to 40 & takes 15 minutes).