Day 7: Great Wall at Mutianyu 万里长城（慕田峪）& Haiwanju 海碗居

The second morning in Beijing, we set off for The Great Wall.

The Great Wall has many sections: Badaling, Huanghuacheng, Mutianyu, Jiankou, Gubeikou, Jinshanling and Simatai. 

I chose to go Mutianyu instead of Badaling which is nearest to Beijing because of a few reasons:

1) It has Luge - yes, the one similar to Sentosa, or at least I'd imagined it was.

2) It is more rustic and 'wild' compared to Badaling. Not as tourist-oriented compared to the latter.

3) It has fewer tourists.

4) It is not the usual Great Wall route.

5) If anyone were to take my parents to China again, they can then go Badaling. By then, they would be older and Badaling should be better for them as it is the most preserved section of all sections. It is very well-kept to minimise any accident from befalling climbing tourists.

We set off at about 8am, walking towards Wangfujing MRT Station. As we walked along, I found myself regretting my decision of not getting a hired driver. I read that we could take a train to Dongzhimen Station and after that, board Bus 936 to go to Mutianyu, but as I walked on, I felt that I had been too ambitious. My parents would appreciate the convenience of a hired cab.

Amazingly, a plump woman stopped me in my track and asked where I was going. When I told her 'MRT Station', she asked where I wanted to go, and if I was interested in going to Badaling, The Great Wall.

When I told her I wanted to go to Mutianyu, she immediately said that she could charter a cab for me. Charges would be RMB600 (S$120) for the whole day. I thought it reasonable although I had heard of charges of RMB500. After a short discussion with my father, we decided to take up the offer. I was only too grateful to have my unsaid prayer answered.

The lady called a driver immediately and she took us to a nearby eatery for breakfast while we waited for the car.

I asked her if she was soliciting business on the street, she said she was on her way to her office, a travel agency, to work. I concluded that it was probably just inherent in her to rake in business wherever she went.

The eatery along Wangfujing Street

Beancurd (tau huay). The mainlanders call it 豆腐脑. Eeks!

They don't have sweet syrup in their tau huay.

Their hot and good doughsticks and black rice porridge, plain again.

Their xiao long bao. Mediocre.

They eat their beancurd with braised sauce! It's salty.

The meal was cheap. About S$3 in all.

The driver came in about 15 to 20 minutes. We boarded the car and off we went.

Our car.

It was a 2-hour ride. We reached Mutianyu at about 10am.

According to the driver, Xiao Yang, Jiang Ze Min wrote '不到长城非好汉' ('One is not considered a great man unless he goes to The Great Wall') at Badaling. At Mutianyu, he merely wrote the words 'Mutianyu Great Wall'.

Map of Mutianyu

I read of the 'world class toilet' at Mutianyu, so it was a must to visit it.

I needed the toilet lah. Xiao Yang said that this was the only toilet at Mutianyu, so I'd better went.

Really very clean! China is not all about dirty and unhygienic toilets!

It was an uphill slope to get to the entrance of the Great Wall. Along the two sides of the slope, there were many stalls selling souvenirs, clothes, hats, accessories and even fruits.

Where you buy entrance tickets (RMB45 or S$9) and cable car tickets (RMB45 or S$9 for a one-way ride and RMB65 or S$13 for a two-way ride).

Just a few more steps away and you would see this: the ticketing office for the Toboggan ride. The ride comes in a package with a cableway - similar to the 'skyride' in Sentosa.
Cableway-Toboggan: RMB 65 (S$13)
Toboggan return: RMB 50 (S$10)

A true blue scaredy cat, I bought a one-way cable car ride and one-way Toboggan return for each person from the first ticketing office, together with the entrance tickets. One pax cost RMB 140 (RMB 45 + RMB 45 + RMB 50) or S$28.

Children above 1.3m are charged the same price as adults.

So off we climbed the slope to The Great Wall!

Where tickets were checked. More steps (gulp)!

Still on our way to The Great Wall. More uphill slope! 'Are we at The Great Wall already?'

We saw a camel for photography session.

Finally, the cable car!

The grand view of the majestic architecture

We reached The Great Wall!

I had read that walking on to the left side might be precarious for the elderly and the kids as it is more unkempt and unpreserved for the rustic tourists.

We headed right. And it turned out to be a great decision.

Even the steps linking to The Great Wall were challenging!

Finally, we stood on The Great Wall!

While it was hot outside, it was cool in the beacon tower.

I do believe that we were at Level 14, according to the signboard here.

Some steps were gentle

but all the same broken

while some steps were steep

A fortunate dog who went strolling on The Great Wall

A butterfly which challenged the height of The Great Wall

A donkey on The Great Wall for photography!

A discarded cannon

Vendor selling food and drinks on The Great Wall.

Their drinks are about 5 times more expensive than what you have in a regular shop.

No need for track shoes. Slippers are fine.

You could purchase the Toboggan tickets at The Great Wall itself.

The Cableway

Tourists taking the Toboggan down The Great Wall

The vendor of Cableway told us that the elderly were not allowed on the Toboggan, but we took our chance anyway and it worked out well for us!

When I checked with Xiao Yang why elderly were not allowed, he reckoned that it was because many locals did not have the opportunity to travel abroad and they had very little knowledge of the world outside, so even if you had explained to them, especially the elderly, how the gadget worked, they still would not be able to understand and their ineptness at operating the Toboggan might pose a hazard to others. On top of that, the vendor worried that the elderly might not have the strength to operate the Toboggan.

Compared to the Luge at Sentosa, Coco and I felt that the Luge was more fun. The Toboggan has a certain speed limit it seems. I kept tugging at the toggle so that it could move faster but the speed was quite slow still. I had to use my hand to push myself away from the metal tunnel-like structure simultaneously to get it move faster.

The Great Wall experience:

It was wonderful to be able to stand on one of the world's greatest manmade architecture. The magnificence of The Great Wall could only be felt when you are on it, or at least so I thought.

It was a right move to take the right side of The Wall as it led us to the Toboggan, and the fact that it was mostly downhill helped alot. Tourists who chose to go up The Wall by Cableway had to walk to and fro the same route to take the Toboggan down as the Toboggan was at the same place where the Cableway was. And either way, left or right, the climb would have been uphill. As it was, we already felt quite tired walking downhill most of the time! We spent about a total of two hours at The Great Wall altogether, so the walk on The Wall would have been 1 hour plus - just the walk from the Cablecar to the Toboggan! It was more expensive taking the way we did, but I was glad we did.

Xiao Yang took us to Hai Wan Ju (海碗居) for Zha Jiang Noodles (老北京炸酱面）

 

It's called Hai Wan Ju because the bowls were huge!

The ingredients, mainly shredded vegetables and beans, with the handpulled noodles

The sauce (炸酱）- salty black bean sauce with pork and lard

Mix them together and you get a superb bowl of noodles. Yummy! Never eaten anything like that! I am a rice junkie and would take rice over noodles anytime, but this noodles is truly out of the world! It totally thrashed all my opinion about China Mainlanders being incapable of producing good food.

The locals usually pour the whole bowl of black bean sauce into the noodles to maximise the saucy taste. Xiao Yang asked us to pour in the sauce bit by bit to gauge our own taste, in case it was too salty for us. I used at least half a bowl of sauce. 

The noodles epitomise 'springy' or 咬劲. I never truly understand the term 'springy' until I bit into these awesome strands. Would I recommend this shop? You bet! But I must say it is quite out of the way. For people who aren't gourmet, it would be too far-fetched to travel a long way for the noodles.

All of us were extremely impressed and contented with this meal!

Just RMB 18 (S$3.60) per bowl!

The 'soup' that comes from washing the noodles! Plain tasting, but it's supposed to be rich with the noodles' essence.

Spareribs. Not spectacular though.

Hai Wan Ju
36 Songyu Nanli, Chaoyang District


海碗居老北京炸酱面
朝阳区，松榆南里36号

Opening hours: Daily 10.30am-10.30pm
Tel: 8731 3518