Luging down the Great Wall of China Review - Mutianyu
So this list item little bucket out to be visiting the Great Wall and get on a chairlift and ride a toboggan down why the children were excited It is as if we went to the Ice Cream Shoppe and said triple scoops, mix -ins, caramel sauce and waffle cones dipped in chocolate for everyone.
We drive about 1 to 5 hours to reach Beijing Mutianyu section of the Great Wall 2 The 3 km stretch is the longest restored section of the wall, and everything I read says it is less crowded than other sections more near Beijing that are open to tourists a dirt wall was built here in the sixth century, but it was improved during the Ming dynasty 1368-1644 to a granite fortification with 22 watchtowers spread around all 100 meters.
As we enter the parking lot, I look up on the wall that winds its way through the mountain pass about 100 meters above us to get to the ticket, we walk through the souvenir stands selling all kinds of Chinese souvenirs, including I climbed the Great Wall of China T-shirt I bought my daughter at the end of our visit a week later, I regret not wash this black shirt separately from other laundry that I draw a gray now load of clothes in my washing machine.
Basically, we have three choices to get up to the wall.
Climb the path with 4000 steps for 30-40 minutes.
Mount the enclosed cable car up the tower 14 with an option for a ticket back down.
Mount the chair lift to the tower 6 which comprises mounting slide down.
Tip The cable car and the chair lift are operated by different companies if you plan to go on and return to the bottom of another, buy tickets before boarding the wall.
We decide on the chairlift and hop in the race to the top, I look around to take 10 minutes to view the surrounding mountains camouflaged with autumn colors this afternoon end-October are a sight to see after the lively crowd Beijing congested, Mutianyu is at rest and literally a breath of fresh air.
Finally, we are above the joy of wall jumping This time Great Wall is one of the reasons why I desperately wanted to visit China and was willing to go through all the hassle of the visa application and get rejected, reapply and pay the ridiculous rush fees despite having turned in the documents weeks in advance.
While the restored Mutianyu section of the Great Wall has an essentially smooth walking surface, there are still stairs steps as it follows the ridge and down Lots and lots of steps just get Tower 19 Tower 20 has 450 steps In other words, don t bother bringing a stroller for your little one.
Here, the Great Wall stands 7-8 meters high and 4-5 meters wide this supposedly allowed width to a large number of troops and messengers to go through the road, but I'm not thinking as steps and narrow doors of the towers probably served bottlenecks this section is unusual in that it has aliasing on the interior and exterior walls, allowing soldiers to fire on the approaching enemy and that those who had violated the wall.
The end of October is proving to be a beautiful time of year to visit the crowds Golden week earlier in the month disappeared, and the trees are changing colors are perhaps a soldier stationed on the Wall was not so bad if you have to look at it all day.
Summer is deemed hot and crowded with foreign tourists friend of my son walked the wall of a winter and said the coldest he's never been one of my mom's friends visited in late March and was surprised to encounter snow While his older kids enjoyed the sight of their first snowfall and the youngest cried on freezing toes, they were disappointed to discover that the farm toboggan track when it's snow, rain or other bad weather.
I KIDNEY my teen boy while we are here facing this vast landscape and the top of the Great Wall stretching before him, all he wants to do is run, it aspires to go up and down stairs to turn as fast as it can on the contrary, he must be content to go no more than a lap ahead and wait while the rest of us took Poor guy, because this mom is quite slow, stop taking pictures every few steps.
Round 5 of the Mutianyu section has a second story covered.
Most watchtowers are one story with stairs leading to the roof open Tower 5 is unusual in that the 2nd floor is also covered in the back when the Great Wall was still used as a defense system, watch guards were stationed on the towers if they spotted attackers approaching, they lit a signal fire on the roof to warn the surrounding towers since the towers were built on hilltops, it was easy to see the smoke during the day or Firelight night any guard who saw a traffic light built his own fire to pass along the message to alert troops ready for battle lanterns on poles and flags were other means of communication between towers.
The average Chinese man is shorter than its Western counterpart Plus, people that lived four centuries ago when the towers were built were shorter than modern popular Put these two together and you get the granite doors that were much too low for my husband to walk through upright.
Tower 1 has not been restored, and its state of abandonment shows how much work went into improving the Wall for tourists today Visitors are not allowed on the portion east tower 2 tower 1, but some explorers and photographers ignore the Wall's rustic ruins made for operations of beautiful photos.
Visitors climbing over the ruins of a watchtower.
Unfortunately, many people decide to commemorate their time at the Great Wall scribbling or carve their name in the granite bricks Have some respect people.
Almost all the bricks on this watchtower was graffiti Most are not Chinese.
To protect the wall, the Chinese authorities announced this week that they have set aside specific areas near Tower 14, where graffiti is permitted This decision will hopefully limit the damage zone A proposed plan also includes graffiti walls electronic touch screen for tourists crazy leaving their mark where it can probably then be cleared with the push of a button.
The end of our walk ends with the highly anticipated 1580 meters almost 1 mile toboggan Hit The trolleys can accommodate both single and double riders, and my daughter decides to go with his father Push lever between your knees releases before brake to let the sled run start sliding down the track, and pulling it toward you arrested adjust your speed for the distance you push Before we arrived, I was representing the speed of Olympic worthy sled downhill after my daughter it proved to be a turn rather slowly because it took a bit of force to push the lever forward to go fast enough Fortunately, his older brother was ahead of her and could get down as fast as he loved it all Sá safe driving for the children, although two Lakers managed to injure themselves in accidents separated during a visit a few weeks before us.
The Great Wall of China does not disappoint In fact, it turned out to be much more exciting than I would have expected when he went on the bucket list there decades If you're looking to check the Great Wall your own list, I highly recommend doing at Mutianyu the only thing that could have done better would be a luxury ice cream parlor at the bottom.
Emma wanted to visit China and see the Great Wall since she was 3 - and I can not wait to take her there, I have to admit I did not know that there was a method to arrive the top other than climbing and this is the first I ever heard of the toboggan ride down and it looks quite a bit of fun, but I think I prefer to walk - though I know I'm capable of being overturned on that.
I still remember how much I had to stand on the wall, and how devastated I was a week or two later to find that I had lost the memory card with all my pictures, I was not in this area and can not remember exactly what part I went to was about 2 hours outside of Beijing, I remember being in me the same cable car that President Bill Clinton is mounted at its Great tour visit, and you had a fabulous time now I have to go back and get my picture taken again.
Malaysia Meandering Great Wall of China tower slide, Great Wall, China.
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