The Great Wall of China

It is one of the greatest wonders of the World! It’s a symbol of human engineering marvels, strength, and perseverance! That will make you feel humble and leave you in owe…IT IS THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!

Yet to fully appreciate this ancient wonder and have a sense of how tough it was for the ancient Chinese to build such a massive long structure, you have to explore it in its original state, with its original stones, imbedded in the nature around it, snaking its way over mountains and into valleys. To do so, lets pack your adventurous spirit, head off-the-beaten path and explore the UNRESTORED part of the great wall i.e. the original wall.  

Few people even know that they can access the unrestored part of the great wall of China. No guidebook or a tour company will mention this part…for all of them, visiting the great wall means visiting the restored part in Mutianyu. They will take you in large tour buses, drop you at Mutianyu with hordes of other tourists where you will take a cable car up to the wall, and walk steps of stairs on modern painted stones that have no authenticity at all.  Therefore, to see the wall in its original state, walk it as the ancients did, away from tourists, and fully be in owe of how did the Chinese build this wall, then you need to do it on your own and have your adventurous spirit at full swing:) So follow me in this blog where I’ll show you that it is totally doable on your own and give you hints of how to explore the wall, not just visit it, by going to the unrestored part in Jiankou and walk all the way to Mutianyu.

The first challenge that will face you when planning this adventure is going to Jiankou itself without speaking Mandarin:) The journey from Beijing involves a metro ride + a bus ride + a taxi ride + a strenuous hike! To begin your journey, you’ll take the underground metro to Dongzhiman station and get out from exit “B” (click to request map), from there you’ll walk to the sheltered bus station and try to catch the bus that goes to Huairou Fangshan (click to request info). You’ll ride the express bus all the way till the last stop and get out opposite to Huairou First Hospital. Now you are in real China and have to use all your communication skills, by that I mean sign language:) to explain to a taxi driver that you want to go to Xizhazi village which is a 40 minutes ride from where you are. But be patient as not all taxi drivers will know where this village is, so be armed with your maps and keep trying with different drivers (click to request info). This is not your only challenge, to go to Xizhazi village, but this village is in the valley and the wall is on the top of the mountain and the only way there is to hike up on an unmarked trail and your biggest challenge will be to locate the trailhead! To reach the trailhead, when entering Xizhazi “5” from Xizhazi “1”, there is a stone bridge, so ask the driver to cross it. Then you’ll have to look for a mark on the road to know where to head and this mark is (click to request info). After reaching the mark, ask the driver to turn left then the road will reach a dead end so ask him to drop you there!! Believe me…he’ll be stunned by this request as you’ll be in the middle of nowhere and once he leaves…there will be no way of going back except THE WALL! Even the locals won’t know what you are doing there…but YOU DO! Personally, my driver even refused to drop me there at the beginning because he was worried about me, but after a lot of explaining, he realized I was confident in what I’m doing and let me out:) I admit that you’ll feel a bit scared, especially at the sight when he pulls back and disappears as you’ll find yourself alone and in the middle of nowhere, but the trailhead and the wall are there (click to request info)!

The next challenge is the hike up to the wall. This is a strenuous all uphill hike and, most probably, you’ll be alone on the trail (I only met 1 Chinese hiker on my way up). After a minute of hiking, the trail forks into two and you have to select the right direction to take (click to request info) then continue going up. Slowly, you will start getting the first sights of the wall from behind the forest trees and the adrenaline will start pumping in your veins 

After about 20 minutes, you’ll encounter another fork so keep on the main trail and you’ll gradually start reaching the wall and Zhengbei tower, from which you’ll access the wall.

The entire hike should take you around 40-45 minutes till the base of the wall, but how will you go up to its top?!! This is one of the truly unforgettable experiences that you only find when you get off-the-beaten path! At the tower, there will be a old local man with a wooden ladder to help you up, but…you’ll have to pay him to drop it for you:) He’ll ask for a very small fee that you’ll happily pay, but between you and me, whatever this man will ask for, you’ll pay it because you are tired and, frankly speaking, you have no other option:)

Now it is time to celebrate…you are on the ORIGINAL GREAT WALL OF CHINA and you did it all alone, so lets start the walk.

From the tower, you can either go right or left, but to reach Mutianyu, you have to go (click to request info) and start the 6 hours walk on top of the wall. This walk will be as wild as it gets…there are broken stones, very steep slopes, no stairs, and very few people.

The walk will start flat, then up, then down and at some sections it will be very steep downhill that you’ll literally have to hang on the wall to be able to go down and it is AMAZING!

In some other sections you’ll have to crawl your way up, but with every turn, you’ll be owed by how difficult this terrain is and how did the ancient Chinese manage to build this wall.

Walking along the wall, there will be nothing to obstruct your view…only the stunning wall snaking its way up, down and around mountains so enjoy, appreciate and take lots of pictures:) 

After around 4 hours, you’ll reach the beginning of the restored part…What A Difference!

You’ll feel like a true Chinese conqueror when you start meeting the tour-bus tourists and ask you where are you coming from and see the surprise in their eyes…You’ll feel like a true adventurer…and You Are, and remember you are the only one of them who walked on the original stones of the wall!

The walk of the restored part will be easy with stair steps to negotiate your way on the steep downhills, but still you’ll get very good views.

 

Finally, to go down Mutianyu village, continue walking till tower “6” because there is still one more fun activity to do instead of taking the cable car! So unleash the child in you and take a toboggan ride down to the village:) Reaching the village, you’ll be greeted by a lively souvenir market, so use all your haggling skills and treat yourself with something to commemorate this adventure.

After you finish your adventure, you’ll be tired and it’ll be late, so I recommend to spend the night in Mutianyu and next day take a direct bus to Beijing (Click to request info)

CONGRATULATIONS MY FELLOW ADVENTURER, YOU CONQUERED THE GREAL WALL OF CHINA