Great Wall at Badaling (Badaling Chancheng) Beijing

Erin says:

The first time I can recall hearing of the Great Wall of China was when I was little and a magician named David Copperfield was going to have a tv special where he made it disappear. A big wall magically disappearing and then reappearing seemed pretty cool, but to me wasn't as cool as the story my mom told me about this …

We've got A LOT to fill you in on!

For those of you arranging your lives around our daily updates, you may have noticed there's been a couple of days missing. The last few days have been a whirlwind, so be prepared for a few jam packed entries.

After whimsically drinking jasmine tea in the common room until 1am on Thursday, we …

1st July - We were picked up from the airport and transported to the hotel. We were met by our personal guide called Martina (the English name). The hotel was very good and not very far from Tiananmen Square. The only problem we had was the staff did not speak English and it was difficult to communicate with them. The rooms were clean and good. It …

The next day (June 15) we woke up bright and early to visit the Great Wall of China. As a kid, I've learned about the Great Wall in history class, seen pictures, and watched documentaries about it. It's a place that most people only hear about, so while thinking about how fortunate I was, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little emotional. …

Buenos dias!!!
Hoy fuimos a la muralla china!!!! Es gigante y enorme! Tiene partes super inclinadas, parecia como que uno se iba a caer! Solo estuvimos en la muralla por una hora. Pero pudimos caminar y sentarnos a admirar y obvio... tomar muchas fotos. La gente en China es super arrimadora, por no encontrar mejor palabra. Te pasan a llevar y …

We are on our way to the Great Wall of China!




The bus picked us up early from Happy Dragon and made a three hour detour around various other hostels and hotels in Beijing before finally making the hour or so trip to the Badaling part of the Great Wall …

A colleague of mine, who is much of a hiker/mountaineer/trekker from the upper region of Wisconsin was asked why she would take so much time, sometimes days, to to hike somewhere. Without thought, she responded with a smirk and said "...when you spend so much time looking for something and fight and you sweat and you go through all of the trouble …

Well folks first time keeping a blog but here goes.
We set of from edinburgh airport heading for london heathrow. Then got on are conection flight from london straight to beijing.My flight was all good,watched American Pie The Reunion and Safe.On are arrival into beijing airport we found out are bags where left in london. Brittish airways then …

September 2010 - Spring. Temp - 27 to 32 degrees celsius. Humid but cool breeze starting late afternoon.

We were lucky that a relative lives in Beijing central who picked us up at the airport early in the morning (1am), who offered her place for our whole 3-day stay, who saved us our everyday breakfast, and who was a lot of help for us …

Kate's birthday today - our little girl already 14 - and whilst we did have to get up at 7.30am for breakfast, it's not everyone who gets to see the Great Wall of China on their birthday. This hotel is great and breakfast is a real treat. Like I said before, the hotel staff are all over you, and lots of them, and this morning Jack didn't make any …

... doing the V sign in photo's! Houses everywhere are probably full of people with 2 fingers up! So we finally arrived at the Great Wall at Badaling.  Our guide reckons that this is a good spot. We spent several hours walking there up to the highest ...

... huge dining room and lazy suzan service... tons of Korean tourists and Catholic school girls there. And then, we climbed the Great Wall at Badaling! This is an insanely steep section of the wall (pictures coming soon) which our tour guide only gave us ...

... the billowing incense and took photos of the magnificent buildings. The day after the calm temple we decided to head to the Great Wall at Badaling. It was a Monday so we were hoping to avoid the weekend crowds. We wanted to take the train but this is ...

... was specially designed for western tourists but was pretty good, too much to eat but quite tasty. Then off to the Great Wall at Badaling. Another fairly long drive. At the bottom of a steep hill were hundreds of coaches and the local tourists climbed up ...

... took the 45 minute drive to the Great Wall. I can't even begin to explain how impressive the Great Wall is. We went to the Great Wall at Badaling, and spent about an hour and a half on the wall. First, it was the coldest place I have ever been, by ...

... sporting some new rather expensive souvenirs, we boarded our mini-bus again and off to the Great Wall, but not to the Great Wall at Badaling as advertised.  It seems that the Badaling highway was closed for repair, so we would be going to another ...

... and hung it out on the balcony before Darmen arrived. He'd organised a very comfortable car to take us all out to the Great Wall at Badaling. This is the most touristy part of the Great Wall near Beijing, but also the closest and easiest to climb so we ...

Climbing the Great Wall for the 4th time! ...

... for 100 Yuan (about 10 euro) he could drive us there & back... Such a chancer. The bus took an hour to get to the Great Wall at Badaling & it was grand (12 Yuan each). We walked a good bit of the wall. It's very very steep at Badaling & our legs ...

... ran tours and eventually found one that would come pick us up at our hotel, take us to Ming Tombs and the Great Wall at Badaling (the more toursity spot but closer to the city than Simatai), English speaking guide and lunch included for a more ...