A Quick Trip to the Great Wall of China
✒️ Written by: Abbie & James
The first of our many Aussie adventures has actually taken place in China, during our lengthy layover in Beijing.
We landed in Beijing at around 11:40am local time, incredibly tired and groggy after a 10 hour flight, made worse by the fact it was only 3:40am in the UK where our bodies have been sleeping for many a year. Nevertheless, once we cracked the confusing temporary visa-free palaver to clear customs and make our way out the airport, we were excitedly greeted by our driver who was holding up a sign with Abbie’s name on it.
We booked this trip through Get Your Guide only a couple days before the flight and honestly we were so impressed. It was just the two of us with our driver all day, and he was ready and waiting for us at the airport when our plane landed. He took us straight to the Great Wall and gave us all the information we needed. Hint: we needed a lot! For anyone wanting to make this stop-off when flying through Beijing, we have tips…
Firstly, most places in China don’t accept Mastercard or VISA, so get some cash out. Secondly, get enough cash! We knew our excursion included transfer and tickets to the Great Wall, and we also knew that it didn’t include food or cable car tickets, but what we didn’t know is that the cable car would be essential because it’s quite the trek up to the wall and on the day we happened to go, it was snowing, the path was frozen, and we weren’t guaranteed to be able to make it down by dark. And so, we felt like a right pair of idiots when our driver told us the cost of the cable car round trip and we were 60 Yuan short. Luckily, he was amazing, and he told us to get the Alipay app which allows easy transfer of funds from a UK bank account to pay for things in China.
It’s best to book an organised transfer to see the Great Wall like we did, because it took so much fuss out of the whole ordeal. When we got to the wall, our driver had two warm coats for us as we obviously did not pack winter woolies for our year-long trip to the beach. To make it even better he got us through all the ticket gates and dealt with the ticketing side of things for us. All we had to do was follow him, hop in the cable car, and find ourselves at the top of a mountain crowned by the iconic Great Wall of China.
And how incredible it was! Bearing in mind, it was totally in the clouds, snow on the ground, and an absolute death trap with the ice. We couldn’t see the views at all because of the fog but to be standing on such a historic landmark only hours after getting off a plane from London was just insane. We walked up and down the wall from either side of the cable car, through tunneling watch towers, past tourists sliding down sections on the ice, and huffing and puffing up the many, many steps. It’s an amazing piece of work to see, and trying to fathom the difficulty of building it was a heavy weight to bear.
The first walls on the site of today’s Great Wall of China date back to the seventh century BC, but what we see today was mostly built between the late 1300s and the mid 1600s. We visited the Mutianyu section which is one of the best-preserved parts and was constructed one thousand four hundred years ago. The original purpose of the Great Wall was to keep out Eurasian nomads, but throughout the years has been used for other defence purposes and for trade and border control.
After a few treks around the wall and hundreds of photos taken, we were freezing to the bone and made our way back down via the cable car. Given the conditions, 2 hours on the wall was plenty of time, but if we were to come back in warmer weather we could easily enjoy a whole day trekking the undulating wall. Instead, we found our driver exactly where he said he would be and we headed back to the airport.
However, when we told him our flight wasn't until 1am and it was currently only around 4pm, he knew exactly where he could take us next to extend our authentic Chinese experience. ‘You like Chinese tea?’ he asked us, and we said yes. Next stop - the loveliest Chinese tea shop where we received a tasting session for just the two of us. The lady in the shop demonstrated traditional Chinese tea steeping techniques and ceremonial practices, including the pouring of hot water over teapots to pre-warm the ceramic and improve the flavour of the tea. She taught us the correct methods for holding the small drinking pots, smelling the tea, and tasting it. We tasted six different teas including Ginseng oolong, Jasmine, and pu’er. Our favourite was the oolong so we bought a nice looking tin of that to take home.
After the tea experience, our driver took us back to the airport and he even gave us souvenirs: two beautiful Great Wall of China magnets and a cuddly toy panda bear. Not to mention he ensured we packed some more snacks in our bags! It was an incredible day trip and we couldn’t thank him or recommend him enough. We got through security quickly and still had hours to spare before the next leg of our flight to Auckland. Although it was stressful taking a leap of faith like this–working out how to temporarily leave the airport, trusting our driver even when we fell asleep in the back of his car, and not knowing how much cash to get out–it was well worth the effort and made easy by everyone around us.
Next stop: New Zealand.
