I have seen the Great Wall of China on TV and in print countless times.  I just never thought I would walk on it one day and for yes, the whole day.  Travel snobs have commented that the Great Wall in Badaling is the part of the Great Wall that is best missed and not visited at all because it's the most popular and most touristy section of all the parts of the Great Wall in all of China.  If this logic were to be followed then many tourist attractions in the world should also be missed because they are extremely and without any doubt touristy.  Therefore, the Eiffel Tower should be skipped by visitors to Paris, the same for the Statue of  Liberty in New York, or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  Truth be told, my partner, Marc, and I had a wonderful time in Badaling and that part of the Great Wall was spectacular.

For months before our trip, I searched for information about how to travel to the Great Wall in Badaling without having to join packaged or organized tours.  I read so many dreadful stories about these tours. It was mentioned that they are such a waste of time and money given that out of a day long tour to the Great Wall, the actual visit actually lasts only an hour and a half with so many stops in souvenir shops and tea houses where it is hoped that tourists would shop and shop so that the tour organizers could earn their commissions.  Every article, book, and even reviews by previous travelers on Tripadvisor recommended either tours organized by hotels or suggested hiring a a guide and a cab for the day.

It was sheer luck and coincidence a few weeks before our scheduled visit to China that I accidentally chanced upon a video on YOU TUBE about a Filipino-American couple who visited the place by train.  Cost per person on the hour long train ride from the North Train Station in Beijing to Badaling was, take this, 6 RMB  or 90 cents US.  Yes folks, forget those $100 per person tours to the Great Wall and head on to the Beijing North Train Station and buy yourselves a 90 cent ticket on a wonderful train ride to one of the world's great wonders. No need for the horrendous guides or hired taxis.  The train ride was so pleasant.  In fact the only people I saw who took the train to Badaling were tourists like us.  I looked for locals on board and found not a single soul.

Given that we were traveling in winter, we knew beforehand that there were going to be less visitors because of the cold. The travel guide books were right in this regard.  It was cold, very cold!  But, we had a ball.  The Great Wall was not actually deserted.  In fact, there were  hundreds of tourists around, however, because the wall was so huge and long, there was space, tons of it for people to walk around on.

The Great Wall from the train station in Badaling was a short 10-15 minute walk away.  It was easy to reach and it was simply impossible to get lost.  There were signs everywhere and the tourists all headed towards the same direction.  We just went with the flow.  There was just no way you or anyone could get lost.  Simply impossible.  There were some locals who tried to sell us and other tourists souvenirs but they were never, ever a pest nor did they hound us all over.  Not at all.  They were quite respectful.  There was one cab who stopped and encouraged some tourists to ride it, but why ride when the destination was a mere few minutes away.  Besides, we were always wary of touts and we knew how to keep our distance from them.  We knew we could literally and figuratively be taken for a ride by these people.

Since we left Beijing so early to catch the train, we didn't have the chance to get breakfast.  So, upon arrival in Badaling, we had to eat before embarking on our day long trek of the Great Wall.  The stores and restaurants were still closed except for KFC, the apparent favorite fast food restaurant of Beijingers.  We had visited the place once before in Wangfujing and the food was good.  Heck, it was truly delicious!  So we ate there again and had our much needed breakfast of the day.

A leisure stroll around the town revealed a lot of art.  The town of Badaling was small but modern.  It was as if it had just been built and developed.  The place looked so new and clean.  These were some of the art we saw around town.

The following are stone panels carved with Chinese historical scenes and famous personalities.  I wish I knew what each panel actually portrayed and who was on it.  Anyway, they were quite beautiful and so here they are.

The small town of Badaling.  So maligned and snubbed by travel experts to Beijing, yet so pretty.

I just don't understand why travel books and people who have traveled to this part of the Great Wall do not recommend visiting it.  US President Richard and First Lady, Pat, visited the place last 1972.

The museum was closed on the day of our visit.  Hence, despite strong recommendations to visit the place, we had to contend ourselves with just a photo of the museum's facade for my scrap book and blog.

This was the theater which was likewise closed when we went.

There is a small square at the base of the Great Wall in Badaling.  It is at the bottom right of this picture. See the Chinese flag?  Admission tickets to the Great Wall can be purchased from a tiny stall there.  While it may have been a clear sunny day during our visit, we were all shivering in the cold.  The winds atop the Great Wall did not help either.  Like I mentioned earlier, there was space, a lot if it, for tourists and visitors to walk around.  There were people alright, but does it seem like the crowds were suffocating?

About to enter the Great Wall.

This was my first view of the wall up close

Simply great!

On top of the first Great Wall tower we climbed that day.  Six more to go.

Camera shy?  No, just cold.  Marc totally covered from head to toe.  Coming from the East Coast where the winters can also be brutal, Marc left for California for the weather and of course the beauty of the state.  He's lived in California so long now, it seems like his blood has thinned out.  Damn those gorgeous sunny California days!

Managing to smile despite the cold.  Hey, he's on the Great Wall.

Names carved on the wall.

There were many towers to climb.  We were able to climb 6 towers that day and that took us over 5 hours.

The coat I wore on this trip to China was one I bought ages ago from Chicago's Marshall Fields on the Magnificent Mile.  It is a London Fog coat with silk and down lining on the inside.  Since it doesn't really get very cold in San Francisco that much, I thought of giving the coat away a couple of years ago.  I have used it only once since purchasing it and it just used up space in my closet.  I sure was glad I didn't donate it.  It kept me warm throughout our vacation last January and I believe it will keep me warm again when we visit Shanghai in winter next year.

Nice

We climbed all these towers.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the Great Wall

Here I am rejoicing as we got closer and closer to the very top

The tower on the lower right was the very last tower visitors to the Great Wall could ever climb in Badaling.  Don't let this picture fool you.  That seemingly low tower is actually the sixth tower from the entrance of the site and it was situated very far and on the top of a very distant mountain.  It felt like as if we were on top on the world when we got there.  It took us hours to reach it.

Here's Marc making it all the way to the tallest and farthest tower visitors to the Great Wall in Badaling could climb to as of the present.

Taking a rest after the arduous climb.  Can you see the Chinese characters written on the wall?  Could they be the equivalent of those phrases we see in many tourist spots in the US and Europe that say:  So and so was here!

Next, my turn for a photo oppotunity at the topmost tower

After reaching the topmost tower, we were ready to make the trek down.

This picture was taken right after we went down a tower.  There was a rest stop along the way, sat, and rested our weary legs.

I love this image of the Great Wall a lot.  How cool is that?

See?  No crowds.  But remember, this happens only in winter!

At the top of the world

More scenes from different parts of the Great Wall in Badaling

Taken from a rest stop with bathrooms.  Before walking on the Great Wall, a kind Asian American traveler from Los Angeles we chatted with a bit on the train from Beijing informed us about the lack of bathroom facilities on the Great Wall.  This made me worried prior our trek.  Thank goodness she was wrong as there were bathrooms on the wall.  There weren't a lot but there sure were some to help relieve travelers.  So if you are going to the Great Wall yourself, no need to worry.

After Marc and I reached the base of the wall, meaning the part where visitors enter and exit, we decided to not leave yet and walk on the Great Wall some more.   This time, however, we walked on the opposite part which was not frequently traveled and walked on by tourists and visitors.  This is what we saw from there.

From here we went down and left the famous Great Wall.

I enjoyed my visit and I hope to visit other parts of the wall like the one in Mutianyu next time I find myself in Beijing.  I heard there's a company called the SCHOOLBUS which meets at one hotel in downtown Bejing, then the bus takes a group over to that part of the wall visited by President Bill Clinton when he came to China for the first time.  That should be cool too.