9 July 2018, Monday

After an easy and relaxing day yesterday, we were all ready to explore Beijing at full throttle today. Our first agenda was to visit the Great Wall of China, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. There’s a famous saying 不到长城非好汉, which means “He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man”. The phrase originates from a poem penned by Chairman Mao Zedong in October 1935, which evoked the spirit of a hero overcoming multiple difficulties.

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications totalling 21,196km in length. The Chinese name 万里长城 translates to “the 10,000-li long wall”, where li (里) is the traditional Chinese unit of distance and one li is now equivalent to 500 metres. So technically, it is not accurate to call the Great Wall of China 10,000 li when it is actually 105,980 li. The idea is that it is a great wall of immense length and stature. It’s a metaphor.

The earliest sections of the wall are believed to be over 2,700 years old. The different sections of walls were built throughout the dynasties across the historical northern borders to protect Chinese states and empires against invasions from various nomadic groups. They were later joined together and strengthened to collectively form the Great Wall.

Over time, many sections of the wall have deteriorated and disappeared due to natural erosion, while other sections were indiscriminately removed by humans. Most of the Great Wall sites we see today are about 600 years old, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644).

A trip to China is not complete without a visit to the Great Wall, but where do you go to visit it? There are several sections of the Great Wall located near Beijing, the most popular ones being Badaling (八达岭) and Mutianyu (慕田峪), as they are the most famous and most fully-restored. Other sections like Simatai (司马台), Jinshanling (金山岭) and Juyongguan (居庸关) are also popular choices. Jiankou (箭扣) and Gubeikou (古北口) attract the more adventurous crowd because they have not been reconstructed so they retain their original appearances and are more wild and decrepit.

During my first visit to Beijing in 2003 as part of a tour group, my parents and I visited the Juyongguan section. It is one of the three most famous passes along the Great Wall, alongside Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan. When we visited in March that year, there was ice and snow on the steps, making the steep climb up quite challenging. The scenery was beautiful as we were surrounded by dramatic mountain cliffs with snow on the ground.

For this trip, I considered visiting one of the wilder sections to see a more authentic Great Wall. But since I was travelling with a group of seniors, I thought it was best to visit a section that was more restored. Badaling and Mutianyu are both located about 70-80km from Beijing city, but the former is more accessible in terms of public transport. Hence, Badaling is the most crowded and the most touristy. I therefore decided to go to Mutianyu instead.

I found a tour package on the travel website Klook for a day tour to Mutianyu by bus. It cost S$45 per person and it included hotel pickup and drop off service, an English-speaking tour guide, entrance ticket and lunch at a Chinese restaurant. However, it did not include the cable car ride. After discussing with my family, we decided to do it free-and-easy by ourselves and engage our Airbnb host for the two-way drive to Mutianyu for CNY 700 (S$146). We would split the cost among the seven of us, so the transport fare was about S$20.85 per person.

At 7:27am, our host arrived at our house and we set off for Mutianyu. The drive was quite a long one and we arrived at 8:43am. We paid CNY 180 (S$37.53) each for the all-in ticket, which included admission to the Great Wall (CNY 45/S$9.40), two-way cable car ride (CNY 120/S$25) and two-way shuttle bus (CNY 15/S$3.13). Senior citizens above the age of 60 enjoy a discount but it applies to locals only.

The Mutianyu Great Wall section is about 2.5km long and it has 23 watchtowers altogether, with the watchtowers spaced about 100m apart. There are three ways to go up to the Great Wall – by hiking, by taking a chairlift or by taking a cable car. If you hike, you will enter either through the North Ticket Check or South Ticket Check, and it will take you to watchtower 10 or 8, or watchtower 8 or 6 respectively (each route splits into two paths). The chairlift will take you to the section between watchtowers 6 and 5, and the cable car will take you to watchtower 14. From my research, the most scenic section is between watchtowers 14 and 23, so I decided that the cable car was the best option.

After getting our tickets from the main entrance, we walked through a village of some shops and restaurants before we reached the shuttle bus station. The bus ride took less than 10 minutes and we alighted near the chairlift and toboggan station (You can also consider taking the toboggan down from watchtower 5/6).

We then walked past the South Ticket Check and continued walking to the North Ticket Check, where our tickets were inspected. After passing through the gantry, we followed the directions to the cable car entrance. The other way led to the footpath to hike up to watchtower 10 or 8.

When we boarded the cable car at 9:30am, there was no queue yet so everything was a breeze. It took less than 10 minutes to traverse the 723m length of the cable line. It was a wet and foggy morning and we were surrounded by lush greenery all around us. After alighting from the cable car, we were a short distance away from watchtower 14. From there, we walked towards watchtower 23.

The wall had been fully restored so the ground was even and very easy to walk. There was nary a brick out of place, to the point where it felt a little too artificial and too well-restored. One unique feature about the Mutianyu Great Wall is that it has crenels on both sides. A crenel is an opening in a battlement; the solid upright section is called the merlon. This is special because the rest of the Great Wall has crenels only on the outer wall. The double crenels here mean that Mutianyu held an important strategic position as soldiers could fight against the enemy from both sides.

We didn’t make it all the way to watchtower 23 because we couldn’t see much scenery with the thick fog surrounding us. It would have been really beautiful if it was a sunny day as the entire area was covered with lush greenery. We also heard the distant rumbling of thunder so we decided to turn back before it started to rain. I think we got as far as watchtower 19 before we turned back.

By the way, if you want to take nice photos without much people on the wall, walk towards watchtower 23. The further you go, the less crowds there are. This is because it is a dead end at watchtower 23 so you will have to turn back from there to make your way to the cable car upper station (watchtower 14), hiking trails (watchtowers 10, 8 or 6) or chairlift/toboggan (watchtower 6), to get back down. Most people only walk a short way from watchtower 14 before turning back in the opposite direction, like what we did.

When we reached back to the cable car lower station at about 11am, we saw that there was a long line of people waiting to board the cable car up. So it was good that we went early and were able to walk on the Great Wall in a leisurely manner without fighting for space or photo opportunities with others. Pity about the fog and the weather though, but at least now we can all say that we are 好汉 (good people)!

We took the shuttle bus back to the village, and had our lunch at the Burger King restaurant there. After that, we did a spot of shopping. I bought a communist-era red star cap for CNY 20 (S$4.17) and an Obamao T-shirt (a play on Obama and Chairman Mao) and a messenger bag for CNY 100 (S$20.85). It could have been cheaper if I had bargained much harder, but I felt it was good enough.

At 12:35pm, we departed Mutianyu and drove back to the city. We asked our host to drop us at our second destination for the day, Summer Palace (颐和园). When we arrived at the East Palace Gate (main gate) at 2:00pm, the rain had just stopped and it was crazily crowded. Nevertheless, the queue moved briskly and we got our admission tickets quite quickly.

I hadn’t done any research on the Summer Palace at all so I decided we should just get the all-in combo ticket, which cost CNY 60 (S$12.50). For the Summer Palace, seniors aged above 65 enjoy 50% off admission and the discount applies to foreigners too, unlike at Mutianyu Great Wall. So when you buy your tickets, it is always good to ask if there are any discounts available for seniors, because different attractions may have different policies.

I had visited the Summer Palace in 2003 but I didn’t have any recollection of that visit anymore. Coming back again this time, I felt very lost as I didn’t recognise any of the buildings and I didn’t know the background or history behind it. It didn’t help that it was so crowded with students on excursions. I estimate that 99% of the visitors were locals. Without a guide, we just followed the crowds from point to point. It felt like the blind leading the blind.

The Summer Palace is the largest royal palace in China and it was the summer resort for the Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) from 1888. It was actually built much earlier but had to be rebuilt several times. The 290-hectare palace is dominated by Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill.

We followed the throng of people, and soon reached the Hall of Dispelling Clouds (排云殿), located in the central axis at the foot of Longevity Hill. This hall was used by the Empress Dowager to receive guests, host grand ceremonies and celebrate her birthday.

From there, we climbed up the steps and eventually reached the Tower of Buddhist Incense (佛香阁). The tower was used to worship Buddha and a 5m-tall, gilded statue of the thousand hand guan yin (千手观音) stands inside on the first floor. The Empress Dowager would come here on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month to pray and burn joss sticks.

After descending Longevity Hill, we took a boat ride on Kunming Lake. The boat ride required a separate fee of CNY 10 (S$2.09). It was a pleasant 10-minute ride and it brought us close to the 17-Arch Bridge. I didn’t take many photos and just enjoyed the ride.

We exited the Summer Palace through the North Palace Gate, and we passed by Suzhou Street on the way out. The market street replicates the ancient style of shops on the banks of rivers in Suzhou city. It appeared deserted so we didn’t go up close to have a look. We eventually left at 5:05pm, spending about three hours at Summer Palace altogether. To be honest, I was quite happy to leave because it was way too crowded inside and I felt overwhelmed and lost.

From the North Palace Gate, we walked a short distance to Beigongmen Station (北宫门) and took the subway to the Olympic Sports Center. It required two change of trains and the journey took around half an hour. We wanted to find a nice restaurant for dinner before entering the Beijing Olympic Park, but there weren’t many food options around the area. In the end, we settled on a simple zi char rice stall.

We entered Beijing Olympic Park just before 7pm. We didn’t go in too early because we wanted to see the transition from day to night. Entrance to the general areas of the park is free, while a paid ticket is required for the National Stadium and the National Aquatics Center.

When Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, it was a huge deal. It was China’s big coming out party and no expense was spared to stage the best Games possible. The spectacular opening ceremony directed by acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou is widely recognised as the greatest ever in the history of the Olympic Games.

The opening and closing ceremonies were held here at the National Stadium. The iconic stadium was jointly designed by Swiss and Chinese architects and it can accommodate a total of 91,000 spectators (80,000 fixed seats and 11,000 temporary seats). The most striking thing about the stadium is its visually distinctive appearance. The mass of interlocking steel structures, together with its saddle shape, led to it being affectionately nicknamed the Bird’s Nest (鸟巢). It really did look like a bird’s nest and it was very impressive.

Directly across the Bird’s Nest is the National Aquatics Center, a square building resembling a huge blue box, thereby giving it the nickname, Water Cube (水立方). It hosted the swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events during the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The outer walls of the building were supposedly inspired by the natural way soap bubbles came together. To me, they looked like the microscopic plant cell structures I learned in Biology class during secondary school, albeit with a different shape.

To pass time, we walked up and down Olympic Park, patiently waiting for the moment when the sky was dark enough and the lights would come on. In the day, the Water Cube looked quite ordinary but it really came alive at night. Finally, at 8pm, the Water Cube lit up and it was a magnificent sight. The colours switched from green to blue to yellow to red and it was really impressive.

Likewise, the Bird’s Nest was even more beautiful at night with the lights switched on. These mega structures were opened in 2008, but even back then, China was already living in the future. China is undoubtedly the world’s most technologically advanced nation with some of the most distinctive buildings. In the space of a day, we had gone back centuries to the past and also travelled ahead of time to the future.

After having our fill of the sights, we left Olympic Park at about 8:30pm and took the subway back to our hutong. It had been a long day out and we were all quite tired by the time we reached our cosy little house. However, after taking our showers, we gathered at the living room and continued chatting until around midnight. Those were fun times and made me so glad that I have my family with me.

I must admit once again that I really didn’t do much research for this China leg because it was so deep into my trip – more than two months after leaving home. When I did my planning months ago, I mainly focused on the routing and connections to make sure that I could get from one place to another, and that I had accommodation booked so I wouldn’t be caught without shelter. Those were my priorities.

I had a general idea of what to cover in each place, but not in great detail. It would have been too much to research on every single city and attraction. For some countries, it is ok to go with the flow and figure out as you go along. However, for a country like China, having a good understanding of the history and culture is important in shaping your appreciation for the places of attractions. In hindsight, I definitely feel that having a guide in China, or at least in Beijing, would have been beneficial.

Nevertheless, I must thank my family members for having faith in me to lead them around. I feel bad about not organising things well enough but they have all been very understanding and accommodating. That’s what family love is all about.