8/8/25
Sleeping in our small pod like room was surprisingly comfortable and restful. Having not woken up until 10am, we left the hotel at noon, somewhat rushing to catch the bus in the rain. Our destination was Gubeikou. A small town to the north of Beijing with an excellent section of unrestored Great Wall, leading into the section at Jianshanling which had been heavily renovated.
Shuttle buses ran from a bus stop just outside the DongZhiMen bus station. Arriving to find signs that didn’t require translation to know our bus wasn’t coming, we were soon being both helped and harassed by a taxi driver. The former involved contacting the ‘wall people’ where we wanted to go and confirming that the entire place was shut down. He also encouraged us to go to Mutianyu. Less popular but restored. A quick search revealed the heavy rain over the past few weeks had led them to immediately post a notice saying they were closing as of 2pm.
Choice had quickly diminished to a single option. Go to Badaling. Heavily restored and extremely popular, due to its ease of access. Our almost friendly taxi driver had offered to take us where we wanted to go umpteen times. Hurriedly booking the last high speed rail tickets from Qinghe at the last minute, we had no choice but to engage his services and be taken north west to Qinghe.
Almost a race against time we arrived with time to spare. Still craving a coffee we had been unable to find despite coffee shops being every 500m usually. Effortlessly cruising through rail stations by now, we soon flew 22mins to the Badaling Great Wall station. The deepest underground high speed railway station in the world, at a depth of 62m. Everywhere was a feat of engineering.
Disembarking onto matching extremely tall escalators we were met by the pouring rain. Moronically, we hadn’t brought our waterproof jackets for our little jaunt round China. Being China, they just use disposable plastic jackets or ponchos. Opposite us, at the entrance to the station, a huge bin was being filled up by tourists finishing their day. It wasn’t hard to find two jackets which hadn’t been torn to pieces.
Trudging in the rain, skipping the highly encouraged cable car and passing tens of coaches, we headed through the tourist town. Starbucks appeared ahead. Never wanting to waste our money there, and having checked there wasn’t a cheap alternative, we splurged. Our stomachs were soon pits of regret as a Luckin coffee, too new to be on the map, emerged around the next corner.
Both North and South directions of the wall can be taken. Heading south first, we were surprised by the grippy paving slabs. Not difficult to stay upright at all. Once in a lifetime experience for everyone, even Chinese people, we were among plenty of company. Organised trips that no one could, or would, abandon. An astonishing amount of renovation had been done. Every turret was perfect, cemented with brand new bricks. No amount of improvements could make it an easy walk. Incredibly steep slopes or tall steps in multiple places. Many of the tourists were desperately gripping the hand rails on their way down.
Regular hollow towers interrupted the wall. Thousands of years later, and still with guards inside. At the end of the southern section we saw the wall continue, in a walkable state, but a padlocked gate barring the way. Back we went to the starting point. Of course it was still raining. Fog drifted in and obscured the wall as it twisted and turned into the distance. Albeit not quite the ‘Great Wall experience’ we’d sought, it was still enjoyable to look at. It just lacked any historical feeling whatsoever.
The North side was very similar, though far far longer than we expected. Being so late in the day we couldn’t possible walk the full length, no did we particularly want to. Hard work, rising and falling over and over again. A ridiculous creation. The ‘Hero Slope’, a large rock that blocked the walls creation, and mythically uncrossable’, was closed. Scaffolding on the tower, the plague of our entire journey, ruined our views. We couldn’t help but be slightly saddened that we hadn’t seen any ‘original’ wall.
Returning to where we’d started, the end of the day nigh, fewer and fewer people were still stomping the wall. Guards were our only guaranteed company, hiding from the rain in the towers. Several hours of wet wall over, we hastily made for the next high speed train back to Beijing. Treating ourselves to a first class seat, we were astonished to find our seats were apart. It must be full we thought. Instead it was completely empty. The prized 12306.cn app was rubbish.
Wudaokou, on the edge of Beijing, was bustling with rampant spending and consumerism. Tianchun Miaoxiang vegetarian restaurant was a 15 minute walk away. Deciding to take a couple of dishes to takeaway, we were disappointed to find it was expensive and had small portions. Nothing could beat the buffet at Qianmen. At least we had food, we reminded ourselves. It was hard to feel sorry for ourselves as we continued to see the appalling atrocities being committed in Palestine.
Surly They Won't Make It 