Day 2: The Great Wall - Mutianyu Section

The Wall
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August 24, 2006

I should start with some history to give you perspective.  The Great wall is over 6000 kms as it snakes through nine provinces in China.  It is truly an engineering feat - a project that spans five dynasties and hundreds of years in the making.  The portion of the Great Wall around Beijing extends about 900 kms long and there are different sections where it can be viewed. Our tour includes two visits to the Great Wall.  We will see it today from the Mutianyu Section which is about 2.5 hours from Beijing's city centre.  This section has fewer tourists and offers great views and a nice walk on the wall.  We're excited!!

The Great Wall is truly an engineering feat - a project that spans five dynasties and hundreds of years in the making.

Missy takes it all in!
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Hawk and the driver were already waiting for us when we got to the lobby and we went back to our car (a different car - a sedan) that took us to Mutianyu.  Along the way, Hawk gave us much of the history of the Wall (which I have paraphrased above).  There's so much construction going on everywhere in Beijing.  Hawk explained that the city had worked itself into a frenzy preparing for the 2008 Olympic games.  New hotels, complexes, stadiums, parks are all springing up in the city.  I remembered to ask him about Communism generally and he seemed to confirm my views - things weren't that great in rural parts but people in the urbs were doing ok.  The salary of a hotel receptionist, i learned, is typically 3000 Yuan (about Cdn$500 per month) and an apartment (about 600 sq ft) can cost anywhere between 600 yuan to 1200 yuan depending on location.  Beijing had its share of rich people but, for the most part, Beijing is home to the working class.  This is where the chinese people (from other parts of china) arrive to make it big and fulfill theor ambitions.  A lot like Bombay, I mused.

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Soon, we were in Mutianyu and the view of the wall - making its outline in the sky was breath taking.  This is the part where I will lay off the words and let the pictures do the talking :)

After walking almost two hours on the wall - we took the cable car down to the foothills where we bargained with vendors and bought souvenirs.  Then, after a sumptuous lunch (food is incredibly cheap! a huge plate of kung pao chicken (see photo) was just a little over $4.

After our fantastic day out, we were ready to take in the comfort of our air conditioned car as we made our way back to the hotel.