Badaling was the first section of the Great Wall to be restored. It was restored in 1957. Due to it’s proximity to Beijing, it is the most visited place of The Great Wall.
The entrance to The Great Wall is RMB45 (about CAD7.50) per person.
The wall at Badaling is 8 meters tall. The entrance to The Great Wall is at an altitude of around 600 meters. Our destination is to reach the North Tower 8 (where I’m pointing) which is a climb of 300 meters. When Ben took a Great Wall tour during his first visit in May, it included the cable car ride to and back the North Tower 8 and was given an hour or two to wander around. If I remembered clearly, the tour also included a lunch. The tour was RMB412. This time, Ben wanted to walk all the way up.
We were lucky that it was a sunny yet chilly day with blue sky. We started our journey quite early and the crowd was still manageable for photo ops.
I needed to stay near the side to have some support from the railing to pull myself up the steps. The Great Wall is 6 meters wide.
The scenery along The Great Wall is spectacular. It’s just so amazing that such a great structure was built so long ago without modern machines.
Feeling warm after climbing for some distance. A good work out.
A rare picture of the usual photographer.
Finally, I made it to the North Tower 8. From here, the Wall turns south and drops steeply, snaking its way through the mountain like a giant dragon.
Going down poses a different kind of challenge as our tired legs felt wobbly on the way down.
We decided to take the cable car down instead. The journey down cost us RMB60 (about CAD10) per person. A big smile for not having to walk all the way down.
View from the cable car.
The entrance ticket includes the admission to The Great Wall Museum. We visited the museum after The Great Wall climb. Some visitors will visit the museum first before the climb.
A model of The Great Wall of China in the museum.
Our bus trip back to Beijing was not as pleasant as the trip to Badaling. There is no system of queuing and the visitors rushed and pushed their way up the bus when one arrived. It was a mad rush and we had to stand in a sardine packed bus all the way back to Beijing.
I’m glad that I did walk up The Great Wall Badaling.
Hi Su and Ben, we just came back from visiting the Great Wall and we didn’t do the touristy thing. We went trekking instead and the portion of the Great Wall wasn’t as great as the one that you were on. There was no steps, everything was in bits and pieces. We trek for 5 hours in the rain and didn’t get to see much of scenery. The trekking was supposed to afford us the best view of the Great Wall but the weather didn’t cooperate and so it was not a good idea after all. It was very interesting reading your posts as you described all the places you visit with details. I wish I did my research so that I can at least enjoy my visit to the various places. We were just bored with everything because of our inability to communicate and navigate ourselves although we managed to take the subway everywhere. We stayed just 5 mins from the Bell and Drum tower and never got to visit the towers too and didn’t get to enjoy all the great food that you talked about. Wish I had checked out your post before I left for Beijing. Anyhow, thanks for writing about your travel. I enjoyed reading them.
I was at the Great Wall in the early 80s and again in ’96. And now I see your version of it. What changes there have been! If you ever have a chance, do the Silk Rd and you’ll see the less touristy and less done up portion of the Great Wall. Still as amazing.