A Hike to the Great Wall of China - Day 2 (9th Aug '13)

It was very much an anticipated day on day 2 in Beijing. We were going to conquer the Great Wall of China, one of the most awe-inspiring man-made structure which was built over 2500 years ago. The Great Wall attracts many tourist from around the globe each year, and managed to earn itself a title as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in 7th July 2007.

We booked a cab from the hotel lobby on the previous day for CNY900, approximately SGD187, which would drive us around for almost a day. Our itinerary of the day would start off with an adventurous hike to Mutianyu, a section of the Great Wall of China, located in Huairou County 70 km northeast of Central Beijing.

First thing we did in the morning was to fuel ourselves with a hearty international buffet breakfast at Essence, the hotel's restaurant, located at the first floor.

The smell of delicious hot fluffy pancakes and crispy waffle wafted in the air....freshly prepared on the spot...yum yum....it's a must have if you happen to stay in Crown Plaza Wangfujing. Drizzled with plenty of maple syrup, slightly salted butter and fruit jam....was the way to go!

My breakfast would never be complete without egg..be it omelette, scrambled, sunny-side-up or boiled. I love egg so so much. Had breakfast on a comfortable couch, but we couldn't sit for long...our driver picked us up from hotel lobby at 8 a.m.

Mutianyu

After merely 1.5 hours drive from our hotel, we reached our destination. Just a short intro about Mutianyu. Mutianyu is older than Badaling section of the Great Wall which many will visit for convenience as it is nearer to Beijing city. According to the locals, it's said that Badaling is the most highly visited section, which also explained that it's always packed with tourists and tour groups.

Mutianyu has the largest construction scale and best preserved wall among all sections of Great Wall. 

Bought the entrance tickets...CNY45 per adult and CNY25 per kid who are 12 years old or below. Cableway-Toboggan tickets cost CNY80 per adult and half the price CNY40 per kid 12 years old or below.

We went up on 15 minutes cable car ride, and stopped at Mutianyu Tower 14. When we were high up, we could see the vast greenery below. Almost 90% of the surrounding is covered with woodland and greens.

Mutianyu which stretches for 2250 metres long, with 22 watchtowers densely placed along the section. We started our hike from Tower 14 which also means we would start at somewhere at the mid-section of Mutianyu. Nevertheless, the return journey took us 2.5 hours long in a slow pace manner! Of course under raging heat, nearly 40 degree celsius.

Took a family portrait before starting off with our hike.

The first watchtower which we passed through...

A short break in a watchtower which was normally pleasant with balmy breeze from the wood.

Enchanting vast blue sky....totally bowled over the beauty of nature...even though the weather was a real torture! Look how tiny the son was, seen here teetering on the narrow stairs of Mutianyu. Slowly, I lost sight of my daughter and hubby, who were far behind. Son and me braved the weather to reach the top.

The view from the top was enticing enough for us to keep moving....:)

Soaking in our own sweat, panting for breath, finally, we had reached the last watchtower. Yay....a great sense of ACHIEVEMENT indeed!

Both of us returned to reunite with hubby and daughter. When we almost got to the starting point, we saw them waiting and relaxing in a watchtower, which seemed the only suitable place to hide from the scorching sun. A victory jump at the Mutianyu Great Wall!

Next, we went downhill using toboggan. It looked like a sled but only with 4 small wheels attached to the bottom. You can easily control the speed by pulling or pushing a handle just in front of the seat...though I prefer to go at a higher speed......yoohoooo.......

13 Ming Tombs

The Ming Dynasty Tombs is located 50 km Northwest from Beijing City, and is best coupled with a visit to the Great Wall. It lies the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644).

At present, only Sacred Way, Changling Tomb, Zhaoling Tomb, and Dingling Tomb are open to public. But we only visited Dingling Tomb.

Dingling Tomb

Entrance ticket to the Dingling Tomb cost CNY65 per adult and CNY35 for a child. Children below 120 cm in height are not required to buy tickets.

The map of the 13 Ming Tombs, where the site is located on the slope of Tianshou Mountain, with good feng shui principles.

To get to the Underground Dingling Tomb, we had to walk for about 20 to 30 minutes...

Dingling Tomb was built from 1584 to 1590, which housed the mausoleums of Wanli Emperor, the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty and his 2 empresses. It's the only one of the Ming Dynasty Tombs to have been excavated. The highlight of this tomb are the stone, the precious relics unearthed and the coffins found.

Inside the underground Dingling Tomb.

Money notes which were found scattered around the coffins.

Woven dragon using gold threads on emperor's robe.

A long and heavy looking belt made of jade, worn by emperors.

Made a pit stop at the Beijing National Stadium, widely known as the Bird's Nest.

We were totally ran out of energy and famished. But our driver advised us to have lunch back in Beijing city to avoid unnecessary lunch at a cut-throat price, especially at places of interest. Had a simple late lunch in a random Sze Chuan eatery. Hubby disliked the dishes as he thought they were too oily and salty for his liking. For me, I personally think they tasted quite nice other than a bit oily.

We had oyster sauce with greens...

Stir fried green pepper with shredded pork and dried chilli. And one thing about Sze Chuan dishes, they love to add in lots of dried chillies.

Kou shui ji....aka Saliva Chicken. We were hoping for a chicken dish close to our Singapore steamed chicken, but to our horror...it was actually a cold dish, soaking in a pool of chilli oil, served with chopped peanut, spring onion and dried chilli.

...And I had this whole dish all by myself. The kidney with pepper in hotplate. Hubby is not into internal organ especially kidney, as he said they usually taste weird if cleaning is not done properly...:(

A toufu dish...with sliced Japanese cucumber and woodear.

Son ordered a plate of egg fried rice.

The food in small eateries normally cost far more cheaper than bigger restaurants, which came in a shocking HUGE portion....no kidding. You might want to order only a few first, before asking the waiter to list down more, the next time you travel to Beijing. We couldn't help it, because we were greedy and everything looked too good to skip..LOL

Rickshaw Tour of Old Hutong

A visit to the Beijing 'Yesterday'....on rickshaws along Hutongs' old alleyways. The one hour tour cost CNY60 per person...with a local tour guide explaining in Chinese to us the life of the ancient locals and interesting stories behind.

The alleyways.....

A peep into a typical congested local house....a bedroom and a hall without any washroom. They shared common toilets or washrooms outside the alleys!

The owner's delicate art piece...Chinese Old Beijing Glass Handwork Painting on Snuff Bottles. I had my hands-on experience in painting one....It looked easier than done. I had to carefully insert the tips of a specially made brush into the glass bottle through a small bottle opening and draw fine lines with freehand! This needs years of practising and of course a stable hand!

A family picture taken with a local uncle.

At the doorstep...of a local household at Hutong.

Back to our hotel at around 5 p.m....reserved dinner at Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, Wangfujing. The moment we were all ready to go out for the much anticipated roast duck dinner, son started vomiting, and complaining of stomach ache. We had to make a U-turn and returned back to hotel. Dinner was settled with room-service. Hubby ordered wanton noodle soup for feverish son....Poor baby....guess he had fever due to too much of sun exposure in the day.

Singapore chicken rice for daughter....btw, it looked unpresentable here coz I took this picture after daughter had dug in for sometime. It actually served with fragrant steamed rice strongly infused with lemongrass; chicken rice chilli, ginger paste and dark soy sauce; a plate of sliced cucumber and tomato; and a bowl of piping hot chicken soup.....quite a decent one, consider that we had this in China and not in Singapore. While hubby and I had fried rice..

Big juicy peaches which I bought from a pushcart outside the hotel.