Beijing, China

Monday, April 20

We disembarked the ship at 8:30am and breezed through the Immigration formalities, and were very happy to see William our guide with our names on his sign. He led us to our waiting car and introduced us to John our driver for the next 2 days. It took a while to exit the Tianjin Cruise Port area as it is quite extensive, but it's only a small part of the larger Xingang Port.

We took the expressway towards the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, as that was our main objective for today. After nearly 2 hours of good progress with minimal traffic we hit a huge traffic jam on Ring Road #6, (which is the only one trucks are allowed on) with 3 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic crawling along. John the driver got fed up with this after 15 minutes and joined the other drivers who turned the emergency stopping lane into another lane, and then just pushed in when they had to merge! We finally found the cause of the problem when we came to roadworks which were blocking a lane, and once we cleared that we made good progress again. Still the delay added about 30 minutes travelling time and we finally arrived at the Great Wall after 4 hours in the car!

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is located in the Huairou district, about 80km north of Beijing, and once worked as the northern barrier defending the capital and imperial palaces. The area near this section of the Wall is a fruit growing area, and being Spring it was very colourful with blossoms, new greenery and fresh fruit stands along the road - the strawberries looked particularly appetizing but we didn't have time to stop. Lunch was included in our tour, and we were given a table by the window with a view of the Wall while we ate a 2 course Chinese meal and enjoyed a local beer.

View of Wall on ridge, looking over the car park!

Schematic of Mutianyu Great Wall

This section of the Great Wall has a chairlift to get you to watchtower number 6, which saved a lot of energy and about 30 minutes time. From there our day's workout began as we started climbing stairs and walking up and down the wall. It was amazing to think we were actually on the Great Wall, marveling at the effort and sacrifice of those who built it, as getting the stones up to the ridge would have been a mammoth effort. The views were phenomenal as it is quite mountainous here, and there were many trees with white blossom flowers which added colour and contrast to the scenery.

Our first steps on the Wall

A beautiful Spring day on the Wall

Noelle was struggling with the steps due to a cold, but she made it to watchtower #9, so William and I kept going and reached watchtower #11 before turning back. The views made the extra effort worthwhile, and you also got some different perspectives on the length, height and width of the walls.

William on his way to watchtower #11

Who's the king of the castle?

Noelle was popular as a photographer for the locals

To get back down to where the car was parked we had 2 choices - the chairlift again or a "skid" on a toboggan track. My choice was the toboggan while William accompanied Noelle on the chairlift. There weren't a lot of safety instructions, unless you read the back of the ticket which listed the "Stipulations for Skidding" in English and Chinese - too bad if you didn't speak one of these languages! The ride was a lot of fun and a great way to end a very memorable visit to one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Chairlift and toboggan run

On the way back to Beijing we stopped at a cloisonné factory where the guide walked us through the various stages of how cloisonné is made. We then walked through different rooms where each of the processes was being carried out, and it gave us an appreciation of the skill required for each step. It is certainly a very labour intensive process, but the finished products here looked like porcelain and with prices to match!

As we started driving into Beijing William explained how the main buildings, including the Olympic Green, are built on the major axis that runs through the centre of Beijing and that this is based on Feng Shui. We passed the Olympic village and also saw the Birds Nest and Water Cube, the two main stadiums built for the 2008 Olympic Games. They are very proud of these buildings and also for hosting an Olympic Games.

Birds Nest and Water Cube

 

William was busy pointing out buildings, parks, lakes, shops and other items of interest as we made our way into the old part of Beijing, near where our hotel was located. There are also a lot of new buildings around this area, with many modern department stores, and nice wide streets. We finally arrived at our hotel and checked in, saying goodbye to William and John until we start day 2 of our tour at 7:30am tomorrow. The Crowne Plaza was very nice and it was good to have more room to move, even if it was only for one night.

Looking down on the lobby of the Crowne Plaza

We had a stroll around some of the streets before dinner taking in the ambience of the area, and again the buildings were brightly lit and there were lots of people about. We were amused at the sight of hundreds of people on the forecourt of the Catholic Cathedral doing what looked like line-dancing to us, but to Chinese music. We thought about joining in but couldn't remember the steps my mum taught us many years ago! They were still at it when we walked back to the hotel after dinner at about 10pm.

We enjoyed a nightcap in the lobby bar before turning in as we have another early start tomorrow, and this was a lovely way to end a fabulous day full of memories, and a few more items ticked off the bucket list!

 

 

 

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