Beijing/Bali Trip 2013 Day 4: Its Not Good, Its Great

After two incredible days we have now arrived at our last day in Beijing, China. After pushing out our trip to the Great Wall of China to the last day of our time in Beijing all we could do is pray that the weather held up as predicted. We woke up this morning closer to a reasonable hour (4:00 AM) and once again got a relatively early start to the day. We went down to breakfast at 8:30 AM and had our new found favorite buffet. We both agreed that although it was still good there was definitely a diminishing return and we were looking forward to doing something else for breakfast for the rest of the trip.

We got done with breakfast right before 9:30 which is the time we booked a private car through the hotel to take us to the Mutianyu section of The Great Wall. After doing a lot of research pre-trip we found that most preferred this section even though it added an extra hour to the drive. We met our driver right at the concierge desk and we got in the very nice Audi A6 to take us to the wall.

I will fully admit to not being a great driver, but after spending three to four hours being a passenger with our driver today I can say that I'm at least better then him. One on side of the equation he is a very aggressive driver and took every opportunity possible to pass a car in front of him even if we were on a tight two lane road. And on the other side he refused to break until he was hugging the bumper of the car in front of him. So to say that Jenn and I were on edge at every leg of the trip is an understatement. Luckily I can confirm we made it through the entire journey and are no worse for wear.

After nearly two hours to Mutianyu we finally arrived at the Great Wall of China. Our plan was to take the gondola from the bottom to the 14th tower and hike our way up to the 20th and then work our way back down to the 6th tower to take a slide from there to the bottom where our driver would be waiting to pick us up. Our driver parked the car and escorted us up to the ticket booth and helped us navigate the lines and get us setup with the tickets we wanted. From the ticket booth we quickly boarded a gondola that took us up to the 14th tower, and like that we were on the Great Wall of China.

The next couple of hours could easily be rated as some of the best moments and memories of my life. We made our way from the 14th tower and made the climb to twenty stopping every five or ten steps to take more pictures and taking in the amazing views. It was one of those experiences that you know while its happening its truly special and we did everything we could to not only capture it but bottle it up and keep it with us. Everything we had heard pre-trip was that the wall can be extremely crowded and that the higher you go on the wall the more the crowd disperses. After only a couple of towers the crowds which were already light went down to a couple of people and as we continued to make our way up we basically had the wall to ourselves. Oh and the weather which we had been fretting about; it was perfect, crystal clear blue skies and only seventy five degrees. God is good.

Our original goal as stated earlier was to reach the twentieth tower. And we instantly knew why everyone recommended at least getting that far. From the eighteenth tower you had a couple of hundred stairs going at a crazy incline that tested every bit of strength and stamina we had. We took quite a few breaks along the way up but we both persevered and arrived on the 20th tower full of pride and awe. It truly was breathtaking from this vantage point and it gave amazing views of the surrounding wall and mountains. We took a break and I told Jenn we can't stop here there are still three more towers to go before the path ends, we have to see what's up there. I thought I would have to do more convincing but Jenn feeling the adrenaline of the moment said lets do it and we kept climbing.

On our way up some guys who looked far more physically fit then we are quipped that we must be in the army or something for continuing the hike. But we kept pressing on and even got some encouragement from another American who said it was well worth it to continue on. So we kept moving and eventually after some serious exertion of energy we made it to the 23rd tower. There is a sign that sits right as you reach the tower that states you have reached the top. There was such a strong sense of accomplishment when we arrived; I couldn't have been more proud of Jenn. We sat up at the top for at least fifteen minutes and took in the pure joy of being at the Great Wall.

The only bad news about reaching the twenty-third tower was that also meant we had seventeen towers to trek down before we could make it to our sliding adventure on the sixth tower. And similar to what we learned in Switzerland last year, hiking down is in no way easier then hiking up. With that well in both of our minds we took our time and slowly made our way down. We had so many great moments making our way down the wall. There is an extremely unique ora that radiates from the wall and its contagious. Everyone we came across on the wall just seemed overjoyed to be there and thats the best sort of environment to be in.

Eventually (probably an hour later) we battled through the downhill trek and reached the line for the Toboggan (slide). We boarded our little plastic contraption that had a lever to push forward to accelerate and pull back to brake. Pretty simple stuff. We boarded within a few minutes of waiting in line and rode the slide from the sixth tower all the way down to ground level. The slide itself lasted around five or ten minutes and was totally worth the downhill climb. There were a few instances where if you gave yourself enough room you could really gain a head of steam. And of course the inner kid / slide lover in me tried to do it as often as possible.

Once back on ground we made our way back to the nearby parking lot where our driver was waiting with waters and took us on to the next stop on our eight hour reservation with him, the Mind Tombs. Even though the Great Wall would have been plenty traveling for us for a day the car reservation we booked through the hotel included hitting the Ming Tombs on the way back to the hotel so we obliged. Unfortunately there was no way the Ming Tombs was ever going to stack up to the wall, and not to mention it felt like a tourist trap. So we walked around the grounds took a few pictures and within a half hour we scared the driver being back so quick but headed back to Beijing and our hotel.

Not surprising given that every direction we ever went in Beijing was traffic-filled our drive back to the JW Marriott was slow going. After an hour and half we made it back to the hotel and went straight to dinner at a nearby recommended restaurant, Nobu. It turns out that this was a Chinese/Japanese fusion restaurant and it was the best dinner we had in China. Jenn started with Miso soup and had the duck breast, while I had a green salad and the short rib. It hit the spot and everything was of the upmost quality.

After dinner we went back to the hotel room and packed up our stuff to get ready for our flight tomorrow morning to Bali, Indonesia. It's almost unbelievable that I'm writing this post in China, but its equally unthinkable that when I write tomorrow's post I will be doing so in a villa in the rainforest of Bali. Until then I leave knowing that we got to experience one of the most awe-inspiring sights in the world. And for that I will go to bed tonight with a giant smile on my face.