The Great Wall @ Mutianyu

It was a wise decision to start off early to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We chose this section of the wall as we had been warned about the tourists at Badaling (closer to Beijing). It was about 1.5 hour drive and we were at the base of the wall by 8.00AM. Three of us opted to climb up to one of the watch towers, one person decided to take the cable car(bad knee). The climb up to the wall proved to be a lot easier than the climb on the wall from one watch tower to the next. Spectacular views, nerve-wracking stone steps. We spent about 2 hours walking from one tower to the next and we covered about 4 of them.

We had hired a taxi with driver and the total cost came to about 450 Yuan. Of course we had to buy the I climbed the GW t-shirts.

Way back we stopped at the Summer Palace. This was a bad choice as there was more climbing to do and we were just not upto it.

The next day we had planned on doing some shopping at the Silk Alley..the one famous for fake-brand goods and authentic Chinese stuff. Lives upto its reputation.We browsed around for a few hours and with our wallets/purses considerably lighter, headed back to the airport.

I am all done with my trip to Zha. I leave tomorrow for a 2-week vacation in my home country and then back to San Jose.