Easily the best part of our trip to Beijing, the Great Wall was one of few major tourist sites on this trip which actually lived up to the hype.
We took the advice of some fellow travelers and went to the Mutianyu section, about a 2 hour drive from Beijing. It was worth the trip.
There was a lot of smog in the air, so it wasn’t the prettiest day ever, but I think it gave our pictures sort of a mystical quality.
We were delighted to find few crowds, which made our trek more enjoyable.
The best thing about this section is the transportation options for getting up and down. Since we aren’t good hikers, we enjoyed the gondola ride up.
Getting down was even more fun. Almost all the places we’ve gone that involve some climbing, Hannah would comment, “gee, it would be great if they had a giant slide to get down instead of walking.”
Here at last, Hannah got her wish. Check out the video:
Yep, it was pretty great. Highly recommended!
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cool video!
kool slide. beats 6 Flags slide
Thanks for sharing the ride on the slide. I’m curious though … what do the green signs say on the way down? These pictures make me want to take a trip to China for sure!!!
oh man, that looks like FUN!!!
The green signs mostly say “slow down, there’s a turn ahead” There are also guys stationed every couple hundred meters barking “slow down”, “no photos” and “stop smiling” – kind of diminishing the experience a little.
Feeling bittersweet as I watched your fun “Rollercoaster” video, relaxed from the comforts of home and no more backpack living, but so sad that our trip is over. I am so glad you made this video; somehow we never got a shot of the slide. But aren’t the signs urging slow-down funny? We really never got much speed. Conor even got stuck once.
I am happy to imagine more travels via your great blog! HAVE FUN.
The best sign was right before the gondola with all the “rules.”
No insane person can ride.
Hi Dani James – and thanks for suggesting this part of the wall to us! Yeah, I should’ve put in a disclaimer: the slide is actually very slow – it took us almost 5 minutes to get down. I got yelled at for ignoring all the “no photo” signs and videotaping the ride, but it was worth it! I hope you guys are adjusting OK to being back home!
I took my then 12 yr daughter to China for 2 wks and this slide was definitely one of our highlights as well! My cap flew off and our friend who was behind us scooped it up on his way down, wish I had a video of that! I can see the culture shock after Japan but we had some of the best food EVER in China. The biggest problem was how big the dang place is – takes days to get from one place to another!
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