Itinerary : Mutianyu Great Wall – Qianmen square
How to go to Mutianyu Great Wall : From Wangfujing station
take line 1 (red line) and get off at Jianguomen Station then transit to line 2
(blue line) and get off at Dongzhimen station. Exit from exit B then make a U
turn, walk straight to the traffic light then turn left, walk straight to the
Dongzhimen outside bus stop. Take bus no. 867 (direct bus) and get off at
Mutianyu Great Wall.
Note : There are 2 bus terminals in Dongzhimen, inside and
outside. Make sure you go to the outside one. When you find the entrance of
inside bus stop (a big building with many buses), do not go inside. Just keep
walking about 10 meters and you’ll find outside bus stop.
We departed at 8.00 from hotel. It was hard for me to find
the bus terminal. When we arrived at Dongzhimen station, a tourist guide told
us to take other bus number (sorry I forget the number). She said it’s faster
than bus no 867 but have to transit to a minibus. I told her that I prefer the
direct bus and she told me the direction but not so clear. I asked some people
and they all directed me to the inside one. I didn’t noted that it was supposed
to be the outside bus terminal. We went inside but I couldn’t find bus no 867.
I asked an officer and she said the bus is outside. So we went outside again
and finally I found the outside bus stop. The line for bus no.867 is at the end
of bus terminal.
Direct bus to Mutianyu only departed twice a day, at 7.00
and 9.00 am. I was afraid the bus left because I spent too much time looking
for the bus terminal. When we entered the bus terminal an officer screamed at
me, I mean literally screamed because I was still about 10 meters away from
her, and asked where we want to go. I said Mutianyu. She told me to queue in
her line. The queue was already long at that time but the bus haven’t arrived
yet. We met some people from Indonesia
there who also went to Mutianyu. It felt really good to be able to speak in my
mother language with other people.
It costs RMB 6.4/way if you use Yi Ka Tong but if you buy the ticket on board it costs RMB 16/way. Finally the bus arrived at about 9.20 am. The bus was not so big and the seats are less than the people. People who didn’t get seat have to stand up along the way. It took 2.5 hours to reach Mutianyu so yeah, I stood for 2.5 hours.
Arrived at Mutianyu court yard, we bought Subway for lunch.
Thank God Subway is available there. Along the way to the great wall, the path
is an upward slope and it’s quite steep. Souvenirs stalls are packed at the
right and left side. Not so far, you can find the ticket booth at the right
side, right at the front of stone museum. You can buy the entrance ticket and ride
ticket there as well. There are 4 ways to go up to the great wall, closed cable
car, open cable car, toboggan and hiking the stairs. We chose the closed cable
car. I wanted to go down by toboggan, but it’s not allowed for old people. So
me and my mom bought 2 ways cable car.
The cable car ride wasn’t long. It was only about 5 minutes
I guess. My first impression of the great wall was it is really a great great
wall. I was lucky when I was there it was a cloudy day. No sunlight at all. The
weather was just perfect! I love love love Mutianyu Great Wall. Unlike Badaling,
Mutianyu isn’t crowded, that was why I chose Mutianyu instead of Badaling. I
haven’t been to Badaling but by seeing the pictures in the internet, I passed.
Badaling is the closest part to Beijing
and most tours go there, that’s why that section is the most crowded.
I went to the left side of the great wall. If you go down by
Toboggan, I suggest to take the right side because the toboggan is located on
the right. The path at the left is harder that the right side. My mom gave up when
we arrived at first tower. So she headed back to a court yard near cable
station and I continued alone. Make sure to wear a very comfortable walking or
running shoes, some of the slopes and stairs are steep.
If you want, you can climb a really long stair to go to high
place that said to have a magnificent view of great wall at the far left. I
wanted to but I didn’t have much time at great wall so after about 6 towers I
went back to cable car station. I was there for only about 1 hour and that wasn’t enough. I must come back there again someday. I want to go to
that high place at the far left then go back, continue with the right path and
go down with toboggan :D The bus to Beijing
also available only twice a day, at 2.00 and 4.00 pm. I caught the 2.00 pm bus.
This time there were not as many people as the departure so all of the
passengers got seat. The last bus at 4.00 pm must be crowded then.
How to go to Qianmen square : Take bus no.867 to Dongzhimen
outside bus terminal then go to Dongzhimen station, take line 2 (blue line) and
get off at Qianmen station. Exit from exit C, turn left, cross the road via
underground passage and walk straight to Mc Donald. The right and left streets
are Qianmen Square.
I really like Qianmen
Square more than Wangfujing. I felt the atmosphere
is more relax and friendly. The right and left side of the street are packed
with hostels, food, street snacks, tea and souvenir stalls. The buildings are
all in traditional model. For the souvenirs, they have all item RMB 5 and RMB
10 stores. Very cheap. The food price in Qianmen is way cheaper than Wangfujing.
Me, my mom and 2 Indonesian people we met at Mutianyu had dinner together there.
We had steamboat. The soup was actually bland so we had to add more soy sauce
and eggs. The nut sauce was also salty so we added more sugar into it. We
ordered many ingredients for the steamboat : beef, pork, tofu, fish tofu, 3 kinds
of vegetables, tofu cake, noodle, and a kind of fried food that I don’t know
the name, each 1 plate. Each plate was in quite big portion and they had a very
reasonable price.
Subway – RMB 28
Mutianyu entrance ticket – RMB 45
Return cable car ticket – RMB 80
Steamboat
– RMB 160
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