August 17, 2004
A great place to experience the Great Wall - but watch our for hawkers!!
I took an organised trip to Simatai from the SAGA Hostel in Beijing. We were driven out in a minibus for about an hour and a half - Simatai is about 12km/75 miles outside the city. When we got within sight of the Wall everyone fell silent - you truly cannot appreciate the immense scale of the Great Wall until you're at it, beside it or on it.
It costs around 40Y (£1 GBP at the time) to get into the area, and another 20Y for the cable car - so it's pretty good value! We paid our fee for the gondola - a couple of people were prepared to walk all the way up the 85 degree slop, but not I! The cable car took us half way up the hillside, took the funicular a bit further up and hiked to the wall itself.
I was absolutely gobsmacked. Not only by the beauty of my surroundings, but by the dogged persistence of a little Chinese woman who wanted to be my guide, sell me drinks and books and postcards and t-shirts. I was absolutely not interested in making use of her services, but she followed me a good bit of the way, picking up a friend who was selling ice cream on the way. I bought a bottle of water and an ice cream eventually and managed to give them the slip when they turned away!
Lying in the Gubeikou Town northeast of Miyun County about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Beijing, the Simatai Great Wall stretches about five kilometers (three miles) from the Wangjinglou Tower in the east and connects to the Jinshanling Great Wall in the west. It has 35 beacon towers. Constructed under the supervision of Qi Jiguang, a famous general in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it is the only part of the Great Walls that still has the original appearance of the Ming Dynasty.
The Simatai Great Wall is celebrated for its steepness, proportionate lack of tourists and it's intactness. The main tourist attractions include the Stairway to Heaven, the Fairy Tower, the Heaven Bridge and the Wangjinglou Tower.
There's also a zip wire back to the coach park for anyone impatient enough not to want to walk back down, which takes you over the lake. It looked great but I was happy enough walking down! Maybe if I'd been pushed for time I'd have slid! The walk itself is pretty gentle, and even on the main part of the wall you can climb as steep a section as you like and still not miss out seeing anything.
Highly Recommended - I've heard from people who went to Jinshanling that it was extremely crowded, so I'd got for Simatai everytime!
It costs around 40Y (£1 GBP at the time) to get into the area, and another 20Y for the cable car - so it's pretty good value! We paid our fee for the gondola - a couple of people were prepared to walk all the way up the 85 degree slop, but not I! The cable car took us half way up the hillside, took the funicular a bit further up and hiked to the wall itself.
I was absolutely gobsmacked. Not only by the beauty of my surroundings, but by the dogged persistence of a little Chinese woman who wanted to be my guide, sell me drinks and books and postcards and t-shirts. I was absolutely not interested in making use of her services, but she followed me a good bit of the way, picking up a friend who was selling ice cream on the way. I bought a bottle of water and an ice cream eventually and managed to give them the slip when they turned away!
Lying in the Gubeikou Town northeast of Miyun County about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Beijing, the Simatai Great Wall stretches about five kilometers (three miles) from the Wangjinglou Tower in the east and connects to the Jinshanling Great Wall in the west. It has 35 beacon towers. Constructed under the supervision of Qi Jiguang, a famous general in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it is the only part of the Great Walls that still has the original appearance of the Ming Dynasty.
The Simatai Great Wall is celebrated for its steepness, proportionate lack of tourists and it's intactness. The main tourist attractions include the Stairway to Heaven, the Fairy Tower, the Heaven Bridge and the Wangjinglou Tower.
There's also a zip wire back to the coach park for anyone impatient enough not to want to walk back down, which takes you over the lake. It looked great but I was happy enough walking down! Maybe if I'd been pushed for time I'd have slid! The walk itself is pretty gentle, and even on the main part of the wall you can climb as steep a section as you like and still not miss out seeing anything.
Highly Recommended - I've heard from people who went to Jinshanling that it was extremely crowded, so I'd got for Simatai everytime!
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