Mutianyu is a section of the Great Wall of China located in Huairou County 70 kilometes northeast of Beijing. I decided to come to this pass instead of the nearby Badaling Pass, because other than it not being touristy, it is one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall and too offers one of the best sceneries. Because of the great view it is also called “The Wall where the Eagle Must Bend its Wing”. More so, this section was where Bill and Hillary Clinton visited when they came to China.
Everywhere you turn, youre sure to get a great shot..
The Mutianyu section of Great Wall was long used to serve as the northern barrier defending the capital and the imperial tombs and is surrounded by virgin woodlands and streams. I was too glad upon knowing that my hostel offered a trips for this pass. The 180 Yuan i paid, included the return trip on a 10 seater van, and the entrance fee to the wall. This was quite cheap actually. You may opt to take a bus from Beijing for a cheaper price but you would have to take another cab from the closest town to the pass, to the wall. Hiring a taxi from Beijing and back costs around 400 Yuan too! We took off at 7 am, and Helen was accommodated on the same trip too even though she wasn’t staying at my hostel. An hour after, we arrived at the pass and got the cable car tickets going up to the wall. (50 CNY for return, 35 for one way) I got tips from reviews as well that if you aren’t an experienced hiker, the cable car would be a must as the wall stretches 4 km from where you get off from the cable car and you wouldn’t have enough energy to climb up and down the uneven steps of the Wall.
"The Wall where the Eagle must Bend Its wings"
We were pretty much one of the the first ones to get there and the minute we started to climb the steps, Helen and I were dumbfounded by the spectacular scenery around. The wilted orange and brown tree leaves and grasses produced a wonderful effect, it was the same as that of the wall. I guess every scenery, be it in winter, spring, summer, or fall looked good wherever there’s the Great Wall of China. As we passed from every watch tower to the next, my camera continued to click and click away, and I left gawking at this wonder of the world. Everywhere I looked, everywhere I turned was a great shot.
Soon after walking 2 or so kilometers we thought we had reached the topmost part or the end of the section, but to our surprise there was another 2 km more going to what they call the Molten Lava, (dunno why its called that), the end of the section that's right behind the mountain on the 3rd picture posted here.
An angel in disguise...
I would have wanted to walk some more, but with the limited time we had, i wasnt sure we could get back to the entrance at 12 nn just as our driver had instructed us. Helen and I headed back, arguing whether we'd be taking the cable car or the tobogan going down to the entrance. I took the cable car back with Melissa, a nice British gal from my hostel, since the tobogan was too much of an adventure to me. Helen took it anyway, and as we were going down the cable she was sledding her way down through the brakes and curves with one hand and a camera on the other. Crazy gal. :)
We arrived in the hostel at around 4 and had a few beers with the people from the wall trip, discussing the highlights of the day, celebrating Aussie Day, as well as Stu's birthday (another British Guy on the trip.) before I caught up with my sleep from last nights drinking spree.
