Beijing, China
Our third and final day in Beijing was dedicated to seeing the Great Wall of China! This is something that has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and I am so glad that I was able to check it off!
Here’s a little tip for those of you who plan on going to Beijing and want to see the Great Wall….DO NOT BOOK YOUR TOUR AHEAD OF TIME!!!! Seriously, don’t do it! Before we left, I was looking online for tours that included the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, and I found some for like, $130.00 per person. I was all ready to book it and call it a day, but Eihab was like, “no, don’t do it, we’ll find a cheaper one.” So I waited, and holy crap and I glad! We ended up booking our tour, which included the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, a Jade Factory, a Chinese Medicine School (with a free foot massage!), and a Tea Ceremony experience. All of this was only $45.00 each! So much better than $130.00…So if this sounds like something you want to do, definitely wait and book it when you get to Beijing. If you’re wondering where in Beijing to go to book the tour, just wander around Tiananmen Square and walk into any of the travel/tour agencies, they can help you out 🙂
Our tour started off early in the morning at 7:00am. We met our tour group at a hotel a couple of blocks away from our apartment, and they took us in an air conditioned van to meet up with the rest of the group, then we headed out to the Ming Tombs. On the way there, our tour guide (Cindy was her “American” name, and I have no idea how to spell her Chinese name) gave us a lot of information about the history of Beijing, and pointed out sites as we passed and explained what they were. She also stopped at a local Jade Factory and showed us how jade is made, and we got to purchase a couple of pieces of authentic jade jewelry 🙂
When we got to the Ming Tombs, Cindy walked us through them and told us about their history. It was really interesting to see! It made me wonder what it was like back then, as I’m sure these tombs were out in the middle of the forest, and not near any small towns at the time.
After the Ming Tombs, we headed up to the Great Wall! The section we went to was called the Matianyu section, and it was about an hour’s drive up the mountain from the Ming Tombs. The road was really super windy (as in lots of curves), but once you got to the top, you could see part of the Great Wall! From there you had to either walk or drive to where the path started. At the start of the path, you had the option of paying an extra 20 RMB to take a gondola up to the top of the Great Wall, or you could walk the 3km uphill to the top. We decided to take the gondola, which was great because we got an awesome view (and didn’t have to walk!).
The views from the top of the Great Wall were absolutely stunning. You just felt so small compared to the huge mountains and the length and height of the Great Wall itself. We did a little exploring, then headed back down to the gondola area. Interestingly, there was still a lot of smog and pollution, even at the top of the Great Wall, and we still were unable to see the sky. Also, instead of taking the gondola back down, we took a slide! You sit on these little sled looking things, and slide all the way back down to the buses! It was super fun!
After we were done with the Great Wall, we went to lunch at a restaurant right at the base of the wall, then we headed back down to Beijing for a foot massage and some Chinese Medicine School tour. I will say that the Chinese Medicine School was my least favorite part of the tour. During our foot massage, they had some Chinese Medicine doctor’s come around and read our palms, and everyone on the tour got diagnosed with some kind of ailment that of course required the treatment of some Chinese herbs that you can’t find anywhere but in China, and that cost $300.00! When we said no, that we weren’t interested, they acted really offended. They were also super pushy about it. And don’t get me wrong, I understand that this is part of the tour and they are just trying to make money, but most of us on the tour felt a little uncomfortable with the whole situation, especially since one couple was told that they were never going to be able to have kids unless they took these herbs….
Next we went to a tea shop and got to do some tea tastings, which were delicious! We of course had some jasmine tea, some fruit tea, and some oolong tea, but we also got to try Pu’er Tea, which is a type of dark tea that is fermented from trees that only grow in the high mountains of China. It smelled like rabbit food, but tasted pretty good! We also learned that even though oolong tea is not sweet, if you slurp the tea, it actually tastes very sweet in the back of your throat, and the louder you slurp, the sweeter it tastes! Kind of cool 🙂
That was the end of our tour, and we went back to our apartment for a little nap, as the tour took all day (we got back at around 6:00pm). When we woke up we were still so exhausted that we just got some take out from New Spicy Way, and watched some TV back at the apartment before going to bed!
xo,
B
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