The Great Wall

Mom & Dad wanted to go to two cities besides Shanghai while there were here in China: Beijing & Xi'an. I knew I would be headed back to Beijing with Mom & Dad so while I was in Beijing the first time, I opted not to go to the Great Wall -- I figured rather that seeing the Wall with tons of foreign tourists during the Olympics I'd get to see the Wall with tons of Chinese tourists during National Holiday week!

First off I need to say "thank you" to a friend and fellow Olmsted Scholar and her husband for letting my parents and me stay at their place while they were out of town in Phuket, Thailand. I stayed with Phoenix and Cliff during my stay during the Olympics. Their place is in a beautiful section of Beijing, very convenient to get anywhere, and very free! So again, thanks Phoenix!

We spent three days in Beijing and went to Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City on the first day, the Wall on the second day, and Summer Palace on the third day. Since I've already included pictures of the Wall and Summer Palace from my first trip, I won't repeat those places here now.
So now for the Wall...

We decided to go to the Mutianyu section of the Wall. It's a bit further out from Beijing than some of the other areas, but this section has survived the thousands of years well and is just in such a gorgeous setting. It was about a 90-minute car ride on highways for the most part to give you a feel for how far from Beijing we went.

When you go to Beijing (and you do need to go some time, it's just amazing), you can either go the Wall with a tour group in a van/bus or you can hire a taxi or private driver. We opted to ask a taxi driver who was very friendly how much to take us, wait for us while there, and bring us back... so about 7 hours of work and 150 miles of driving. He quoted us RMB 600 (about $90) and we took it.

I can't say since I've only been to one section of the Wall, but I've heard that Mutianyu section is the best section because: 1. the Wall is in great condition, 2. the mountainous terrain make for some incredible views, 3. there are cable cars to take you up and down, 4. it's the longest section of the Wall that you can get to as a tourist if you're interested in walking 20km of the Wall and 5. it's a little further out than some of the other sections so there are less tourists.

We couldn't have been happier with the setting or the weather... look at the sky is all of the photos. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and more importantly no haze/smog, just an amazing blue...

On to the pictures:

The entrance of the cable cars...
Must be the best section of the Wall... President Clinton came here during his visit in 1998.
We were in line behind a group of clowns, I mean, traditional dancers. We never saw this group when we got to the top. Kinda disappointed, I thought they would have performed.
Picture of Dad on the way up...

and a picture of Mom. You can start to see the amazing setting this is.
One of the first things that we saw was this sign. Cute slogan ~"this was a structure of war, now a symbol of peace" blah, blah... but the real message is that the Germans paid the bill for restoring this section of the Wall. Man, the Germans are everywhere and they have money!
So I'm taking pictures of Mom & Dad when this Chinese gal asks me if she can take a picture with my parents... what?! I just laughed. I'm totally used to it now with everybody taking pictures of our girls. I just really want to know what she will do with a picture of my parents!

The Wall was built before OSHA was organized, so the steps are very uneven to say the least. Mom opted to not actually go up which was a great decision. Here we're watching to see if this lady will fall or not as she climbs down the stairs...
Some pictures of Dad on the Wall...

A picture of the steps...
Seriously, just look at this sky!

Ok, a bit of a funny story. I'm just taking pictures, minding my own business. Later that night as I'm reviewing my pictures I notice this picture, do you see anything abnormal?
Looks like the boy had to pee, so he dropped his drawers completely. At least in this next pic he was a bit more discreet. Seriously, I had no idea this even happened!
Dad is such a gentleman. I'm sure that's where I learned my skills... right Morgan?

Look in the middle of this picture on the horizon. Can you see it? Look harder, do you see it now? Unfortunately it's a bit tough to see in the picture, but we could actually see the Beijing skyline from this Wall... it was just a beautifully clear day.

Here's a crop of the picture where you can start to make out the skyline. Not bad for 50+ miles.

Beautiful highways... we did between 60-75 mph on the way there. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the picnics on the side of the roads. We saw several groups of several cars that pulled off on the side of highway to eat a snack and chat. Looks like rest areas may be the next step for China highways.
Final stop before returning home was to drive past the Olympic venues. Unfortunately we were not able to make it in for Mom & Dad to walk around -- they gave out tickets for the day every morning at 7:30 am. Enterprising locals wait in line to get there max allotment of 10 free tickets, and they in-turn sell them to tourists. It was a crazy scene so we didn't bother with trying to buy any.

Our driver told us that the Olympic Village, shown below, is actually a condominium complex. The landlords bought these residences knowing that they were not allowed to move in until after their places were used for the Olympics and Paralympics. Interesting.
Final note... if you need a driver while in Beijing to pick you up from the airport, take you to the Wall, or just take you around town, we totally recommend our driver Mr. Wu! Very courteous and humble, just a nice person and perhaps most importantly, he quotes a fair price for his services. We liked him so much we asked him to take us to the airport when we left. At any rate, for what it's worth, here is his cell phone number: 13520967361