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The Great Wall of China has been a marvel of human ingenuity, excellence and perseverance for hundreds of years. It was part of my bucket list for long but somehow it was low on priority list. Recently, when I got a chance to travel to Beijing for business visit, I realized this could be my best bet to visit the Great Wall. I was on business strip with my colleague Ajay Dixit, and we both decided to visit the great wall on the weekend when we were in Beijing. Our hosts also helped us in getting the tickets and also arranged the cab for us.
The Great wall, one of the seven wonders of the world, is more than 10,000 kilometers long and runs through a diverse range of terrain. There are multiple sections where you can access the great wall, and some of the sections are well equipped with infrastructure that can support huge crowds and thousands of visitors that visit this great place every day. Some of those sections like Badaling, Jinshaling, Mutianyu are around 2 hours’ drive from Beijing. We decided to go Badaling as our hosts suggested.
Road trip from Beijing to Badaling
It was Sunday morning around 9 AM local time, when we started from Beijing in a car to Badaling. We were staying in central Beijing at JW Marriott and from there distance is around 70 kilometers and the weather was good. Since it was weekend and also summer vacation for schools, we were told it will be very crowded. As you drive from Beijing to Badaling on G6 Beijing-Lhasa highway, the scenery becomes picturesque. From skyscrapers and big malls, to rolling hills and then rural towns and villages, you will really enjoy watching outside and capturing moments. On the way we stopped at Baige Service Area to get some water bottles and then continued towards Badaling. As we were approaching Badaling, traffic was piling up, and all 6 lanes of highway had bumper to bumper traffic. It took almost 2.5 hours to cover 70 kilometers, and we reached Badaling at around 12 PM.
The Great Wall of China, Badaling
Once we reached Badaling, Great wall of Chia site, we parked the car in parking and went to stand in the queue for buses that takes you from parking to the main site. By this time, it was very hot and humid, and very crowded. Lot of people, families with small children everywhere. Lines were long and it took us almost 20 minutes, before we got on the bus, that took us to the main site, which was around 2 kilometers from there.
Once we reached main site and got down from the bus, we encountered another huge crowds and lines everywhere. From there, you had two option, take ropeway to go on top of the wall, or climb the stairs to access the wall. Since we were short on time, we took the ropeway to go to the wall. We had to stand n long queue again to get to the ropeway, but it was worth waiting, as the ropeway takes you straight on top of the wall and you save at least an hour of climbing time.
Once we reached at top and came out of ropeway car, it was so many people there, wow. It was like traffic jam on the Great Wall. Thousands of people were there, climbing, walking, running, all size and all ages people. It was almost 2 PM, and it was hot and humid, but amazing scene, as you look at the wall, and how it was built. Miles and miles long, almost 15 feet to 25 feet wide, where hundreds of people can walk together, made of stones, bricks, tiles and rammed earth. It is widely told that sticky rice mortar was widely used to hold bricks and stones together.
Along the crowd, we started walking on the wall, some time it was very steep and lots of stairs and some places it was long winding serpentine shape, that you can jog or run easily. For next 2 hours, in that hot and humid sunny day, we walked at least 3-4 kilometers on the wall, meeting some rare foreign tourists here and there, and drinking water from our bottles.
As you walk on the wall, climb stairs for few minutes and then immediately come down another hundred steps, you will be exhausted for sure. But so many kids running and passing by, the energy and enthusiasm will rub in for sure, and that is what we experienced. It was amazing experience that you need to live in and can’t be described.
Finally, after covering almost 5 kilometers on the wall, we started looking for the stairs and ways that can bring us back to the ground. There are exit signs but mostly in local languages, so we had to follow others who were also looking towards exit. As you come down from the wall, in sections there are lot of shops for souvenirs that you will find. We obliged some of those hawkers and bought magnets and also stopped at a shop to get some local drink made of lemon and sugar. After all that walk, it was wonderful feeling drinking that cold beverage.
After coming down we spent some half an hour looking around various statues and plants and also obliging kids who wanted to take pictures with us. This whole compound was very well managed, very clean and very accessible. Full kudos to local administration as well as law enforcement people there, who were busy managing the crowds. It was almost 5 PM, when we decided to take the bus and go back to the parking where our car was parked.
Navigating through all the crowds and queues we finally boarded the bus that took us back to the parking lot, where our driver was waiting for us. He just laughed at us, as we looked all exhausted and sweaty. But this was worth a trip that we took and will stay in memories for long. Our drive back to Beijing was uneventful, and we drove straight to JW Marriott to get some rest and sleep for the next day. On the way, I was just looking outside, admiring what we experienced whole day as well as the people and the culture that built such a wonder called, The Great Wall of China.
