Today we got up at 5:30am, got dressed, ate breakfast and headed across the street to the Bus Station to catch the 936 to Mutianyu. We got there around 6:20am for the 7am bus. Everywhere we read online and in books said to arrive early. We did and were first in line!
Once 7am hit, up rolls the 867 and the 936 buses...people gather at both and an attendant comes yelling something in Chinese....I say to her, "Mutianyu?" and she points to the 867. Sooo we run over, along with the group of other tourists waiting at the 936 stop, and get right in at the front of the line. When in China, do as the Chinese do...which means, there's no such things as lines or first come first served. We get on the bus, use our bus passes (and thus only pay just over $1USD, cash would've been almost $3USD), and sit down in our comfy seats for the 2 hr ride. The trip is 1/2 as long if you get a "driver" but would also be at least 60x as expensive and def not as fun!
As we arrive to Mutianyu, our bus attendant found the one Chinese-American on the bus to translate some facts to the English-speakers. She said the walk from the bus stop up to the wall was 1.5hrs long (much longer than we had read online). Then she goes on to tell us the prices for the 2 cable cars available to go up to the wall (60RMB one-way or 80 RMB round-trip) but you must buy them before you enter. She also tells us about the Toboggan ride and slide you can take down from the top. We had read all of this online and thus had decided we would attempt the walk up.
After we get off the bus we have to pass several vendors who try to show us their wonderful souvenirs. We keep walking to the ticket counter to get our entrance tix (45RMB per person to enter the wall...roughly $9USD). We turn around all happy that we have our tix...now where do we go? There's signs for both cable cars and for the toboggan, but where is the regular walking path? We come to a split in the road...North entrance and South entrance...let's try North. We head up to the North entrance and find ourselves the walking path. Yay! Then we turn the corner and see the stairs....
We've made it...and it definitely does NOT take 1.5hrs. We arrive to Tower #8. At this location there are 20 towers you can walk to. We walk over to Tower #7 and climb to the top to check out the view:
Since we got to the wall early and it was a Friday morning, there weren't too many people up there...making it all the more amazing and enjoyable.
Once we were done we headed back down the walking path (our legs a lil wobbly from all the climbing up). The steps aren't exactly even or standardized. We get back down to where all the vendors are who are now 10x more pushy and literally "in your face". I can ignore the yelling and the "hey pretty lady" calls, but it was quite frustrating when they started to stand right in front of you to block you from walking. Fortunately I have no problem pushing my way through the craziness.
We sit down a while to rest and then head back to the bus stop to wait for the return bus at 2pm. Only 2 buses of the 867 return to Beijing one at 2pm and one at 4pm...if you miss them, there are plenty of taxis and "mini-buses" to charge you a ton of money to take you back. By 2pm there were a lot of people gathered around...looks like we will be pushing our way onto the bus again. We do, and we get our seats. Phew!
Just over 2 hrs later we arrive at Dongzhimen Station. Home. Visiting the wall was a wonderful experience and was even better since it wasn't crowded like we had expected. We enjoyed walking up to the wall and imagining what it would have been like to climb up there with no pathways, no stairs, and carrying stone. The building of this wall is an amazing feat and we are thankful we had the opportunity to see a part of it and take in all the amazing-ness of it.
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