The Great Wall

We were warned by several travelers we had met along our way through China to avoid going anywhere near Badaling. We were told it is that crowded you can’t even move on the wall. So naturally we were expecting the swarms of crowds with pushing and shoving.

In order to get to Badaling we had to catch an overnight train from Xi’an. The train ride was great. Overnight trains, to me, always scream adventure – This is why we opted to train-it rather than fly this leg. The hard sleeper (which is 6 bunk-beds in a cabin, 3 stacked on each side – no door, with bedding) set us back about 280RMB (about $44AUD). The train ride takes about 12hrs (all depending on which train you get.)

You will get off at Beijing West, the station is a little confusing at first, as it is a ‘country’ train station. You will need to catch a bus to get to the metro or just jump in a cab. This was the first experience we had where we found it hard to communicate. We couldn’t find anyone to speak English and the directions we had were not written in Chinese characters. We managed to find a kind man who was able to write the area we needed to go in Chinese characters for us. We sucked it up and just gave the directions to a cab driver – hoping we would get to where we needed to be.

Two hours later and 300RMB on the metre (about $47AUD) we arrived in Badaling. It was pretty much empty. Where were all the swarms of people?

We stayed for 2 nights at the Great Wall Courtyard Hostel. It was cheap clean and the hostess was amazing. The food was brilliant and they knew the area well and were more than happy to give ideas and tips on things to do. We headed up to check out the The Great Wall at about 3:30pm There were a few tourist walking about but no more than 100 – And that’s pretty much nothing when you consider the size of the wall and how scarcely people are spread out.

I hit the North side first – It’s a hard walk – Straight up with lots of stairs. Its do-able but by no means ‘a walk in the park’ so you can imagine how surprised I was to see some female tourist walking the wall in ridiculously high heels.

By the time I got to the 3 garrison tower the wall was empty. I continued onto the sixth tower and just sat there, on top of the world – alone – overlooking Badaling, on the Great wall of China. Did I mention I was ALONE. Not a single soul past me for at least an hour. 

I watched the sun begin to set and then descended down the wall to the third tower on the south side.

Apparently it is very rare for the wall to be lit up. Our host from the hostel came and chased us down the following afternoon to tell us that a VIP was in town the the Wall would be lit for about and hour. We were lucky to see this - It was extremely pretty and again - Not a soul in sight!

Just a side note - We were here on a Thursday and Friday - So I assume this is why it was so quiet - I imagine the weekends is when it becomes unbearably over-crowded.