Just got back from the Great Wall again…
In the past 3 days I did 3 trips, bit much perhaps, but sometimes people’s schedules just end up like that.
On Monday morning I took a British couple that just came back from North Korea to Mutianyu Great Wall. Unfortunately it was a quite bit hazy that day. At first we couldn’t see anything, but after we returned from the Eastern end we could see a bit further. I couldn’t show them the Great Wall at Jiankou though, the place I normally visit with Beijing Day Trips. Apart from being visible from Mutianyu, the nice thing of Jiankou is that it has been built with much whiter stone than other parts of the Great Wall. Especially early in the morning when the sun is still in the East, you can see it shining on the white stones, which gives an amazing view!
After we went for lunch at a farmer’s restaurant in the mountains on the way to the Ming Tombs. Not my favourite destination, but if the customer perse wants to visit them, who am I to say no?
On Tuesday I had to pick up two Dutch girls and take them on a 2-day trip to Jiankou Great Wall, my favorite destination! They had just come off the Trans-Mongolian train from Moscow and had lots of interesting stories to tell! After arrival I took them up on the Wall and we had a nice sandwich lunch in the shade of a watch tower. Our destination for that day was to “conquer” the “stairway to heaven” a very steep section with steps that reach far up in the sky. The view we had on top was absolutely amazing! We tried to push on, but very soon we were met by an even steeper and more dangerous section. A wall of rocks going up in about 80-85 degrees with hardly anything to hold on to. We could have gone up, but going back down would be impossible, so after trying it for a bit, we turned around – defeated by the Great Wall…
After a shower and a nice meal we went to bed at the farmers village to be woken up early in the morning by the roosters and the replying barking dogs. I had brought coffee for a good morning and after a healthy breakfast our mission was to walk the Wall in eastern direction to a place where the car could pick us up again. Since I never been that way either I decided to take a guide with us and that turned out to be a wise decision. I had seen him before taking other people up, a very old man of 72 (!), walking on simple cotton shoes, wearing a straw hat and his eyes happily twinkling: Lao Wang.
The walking speed up the mountain was murderous almost and although I have been up countless times already now, I still don’t like that first path up the hill. Once there I am every time overwhelmed by the beauty of the Great Wall and its surroundings!
The first couple of towers were pretty easy, but not before long we had to go down extremely steep and pretty dangerous “cliffs”. A couple of times even we had to walk on a very thin ridge around a tower because it had collapsed or was too dangerous to go across! Again we had great views and for me it was also very nice to see another side of this part of the Great Wall I love so much!
After a hike of about 5km, which we covered in the heat in about 3 hours, we arrived at a section that was of beautiful white stone, flat and 9 meters wide, enough for the Emperor’s cart back in the days. Another very steep and extremely dangerous climb up would have lead us to the most Northern point of Mutianyu, but this time it was enough for us. One last look (back) and we took a path leading us down the slopes where our driver was already waiting for us.
On the way back we had lunch at the resort at Yanqi lake where I always go after visiting the Wild Wall. We had a beautiful meal on the terrace overlooking the lake under a pergola in the shade. How wonderful an ice cold beer can taste then!
Another perfect trip, which certainly won’t be my last…
