The Great Wall… Again

 21^st January 2013 

In an attempt to make the most of our last few days in Beijing we decided to take another trip to the Great Wall of China. After all, how many times do you get to see a wonder of the world? (Twice, evidently) Unfortunately, when 7am reared its ugly head I quickly forgot about the wondrous wall and was completely focused on my wondrous bed.  After some gentle persuasion/not so subtle shoves I eventually dragged myself out of bed and at 9.30am we were on our way to the train station. 

Ice fishing

 Our first trip to the ‘wild wall’ cost £45 each and while I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants to see the real beauty of the Great Wall, it was pretty expensive and we really wanted to keep costs down this time. After some online research Rory found a train that went from Beijing to Ba’daling, a restored part of the wall that is popular with tourists. The train would take just over an hour and it was only 60p each. Yes, an actual real life train that only costs 60p! The train was relatively easy to find and despite the lack of allocated seating we quickly found two huge seats next to a gigantic window! The train ride was surprisingly scenic and once we arrived at Ba’daling station it only took around twenty minutes to walk to the Great Wall. We then paid the £2.50 entrance fee and from there it was onwards and upwards, literally! At times the wall was almost vertical and the ground has worn completely smooth but I am happy to report that we made it up and down in one piece!

 On our first trip to the Great Wall I was surprised by how few people we encountered. I knew that Ba’daling was a tourist hot spot so I had mentally prepared myself for throngs of people but I was pleasantly surprised. There were obviously more people than when we went to Jiankou but if you walked a little faster and a little farther you could completely escape the crowds. I was also pleasantly surprised by the scenery; it wasn’t as beautiful or as lush as it had been when we first visited but there’s something quite nice about seeing the Great Wall in the depth of winter. I had hoped for some snow but it seems we have just about used up all our luck!

Once again we had an amazing day exploring what China has to offer and it was a great way to spend my last day as a 23 year old. The experience was priceless, well, it actually cost £3.70 but saying it was priceless sounds better!