This was always going to be a pretty big experience for us! We did absolutly stacks of research before leaving for China and again when we got to China. Originally we read about a place that offers a 2 day hiking and camping experience that sounded absolutely amazing. Mostly for the amazing sunrise and sunset views that you could get from just outside a tent, it would be a rough cold night but totally worth it. We mentioned our plans to a few Chinese people we met as we travelled through the country heading to Beijing and were perplexed by their reactions to our plans. The Chinese are really against people camping on the Great Wall and find it very insulting to themselves and their ancestors that died making and defending the wall. It is said that millions of Chinese people died and were encased inside the wall during its construction.
More research by us led to a lot of unanswered questions, we couldn't find a definitive answer on if it was illegal and we started reading about how the tours that offer this service are actually bribing officials.
In the end we decided not to camp on the wall until we were certain we weren't going to offend the Chinese or end up in jail or with a massive fine. After spending 32 days travelling through the country and visiting some of their most ancient, spiritual places, it would be a real shame in the last couple of days to insult and offend them by the way we visited their most revered relic. The other factor for our decision was our insurance, if we do anything illegal and are hurt we wont be covered, camping the great wall and hurting ourselves could jeopardise our whole trip which is something we have spent years planning and working on. One night camping experience was not worth a year of travelling experiences.
After we had come to this conclusion we started to research hiking experiences, looking for an authentic experience that wouldn't make the great wall feel like a theme park. We started to read reviews and blogs from people who had done day trips to hike a deserted but restored section of the Wall, a section that was 'secret' therefore not commercialised and overcrowded. Some of the hostels in central Beijing offered these tours, one such hostel was called Leo's Hostel and we read a lot of really good reviews. We decided to book here because the location was really good too. Walking distance to the Metro, Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City. After arriving at our accomodation we asked a couple of different people who had been on the tour at Leos' and even saw a few pictures. It was vital for us that we had honest & current feedback before booking the tour. We were very happy with what we had heard and even spoke to one person who had done a more commercial Great wall experience for 100 YUAN with the crowding and then also did the 'secret' tour at Leo's without the crowds. We booked Leos' Secret Tour on the day with the best weather, the tour included private bus transfer to the wall and back to the hostel, admittance on the wall, a Chinese local who speaks English met us at the wall to tell us some history before going on to the wall and lunch in a restaurant. We spent a total of 3 hours on the wall and hiked a section with 7 watch towers in various states of restoration. It was really cool to see the different sections of the wall, there was one section that we weren't allowed to go on for obvious reasons that was totally unrestored, a huge pile of brickwork crumbling into the earth & being repossessed by nature.
As it turns out the section of wall we visited was only about 8km away from the very poplar crowded section of the wall at Badaling, which is 80km from Urban Beijing. This tour ended up costing us a fraction of the price at 280 YUAN each. As you can see from the photos there was almost no one around! We were extremely lucky to have had this experience and been able to hear the wind, birds and peaceful silence, so different to other Great Wall experiences we had read about. What an amazing world wonder, what an amazing piece of ancient history. What a sight to behold. It's magnificence is truly overwhelming. Even the wilderness surrounding the wall is vast and rugged. I spent quite a lot of my time on the wall trying to imagine how the men building the wall felt as they navigated the extremely rocky, overgrown, wild & hilly terrain carrying giant slabs of rock on their backs. Did they think it was noble & did they feel honoured to die like this protecting their country? How did the Mongols feel when they finally reached a mountain summit to stare down a valley and up to the next summit only to see the wall looming down from above? What was it like to fight on the wall? These are all things that people from the 21st century will never have to endure or think about.Now for some facts!
It is commonly thought that the great wall was built by the first Emperor Qin Shihuang, of the Qing Dynasty in 221-207 BC. He is the same bloke who commissioned the terracotta warriors.
The wall was actually starting to be built well before this, 770-221 BC, by dukes trying to prevent invasion from other states within China. Emperor Qin unified the walls to prevent northern invasion from the barbarian nomads, known to us today as Mongolians (The Mongols eventually did conquer China) From this point it received numerous extensions & renovations.
The lower class people of China, were given 2 choices. Build the wall and die or go to war & fight the Mongols. Millions of people, through forced labour chose to die building the wall, Their bodies forever entombed in the structure. Many Chinese legends exist around this, most famously the one about Meng Jiangu who howled and cried so hard in distress she caused the wall to crumble. Meng's husband, Fen Qiliang, was taken by federal officials to build the wall. Meng never heard anything from her husband & fearing the worst set off to find him. On arriving at the wall she discovered he was already dead, she never found his body, the wall had already claimed it.
The Great Wall Of China had an official length of just over 21,196 km's, today's most visited section is the Ming relic & it is just over 8km's long, stretching through 9 provinces. There is approximately 526 kilometres around Beijing providing the best places to see it. Its height ranges from 8 - 14 metres.
One third of the wall has totally disappeared, during a cultural revolution a lot of bricks were taken from the wall & used to build houses in nearby villages.
Most of the standing structure we see now is from the Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty was eventually overthrown in 1644, that signified the end of all military work, no more has been done since. A few sections were obviously restored for tourism, restoration work only started in 1957.
To debunk a popular misconception, one that I really wanted to believe. The Great Wall can not be seem from space with the naked eye. Not a massive disappointment as it's a much better view from earth after climbing to a high section and feeling the wind in your hair!
Most of the standing structure we see now is from the Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty was eventually overthrown in 1644, that signified the end of all military work, no more has been done since. A few sections were obviously restored for tourism, restoration work only started in 1957.
To debunk a popular misconception, one that I really wanted to believe. The Great Wall can not be seem from space with the naked eye. Not a massive disappointment as it's a much better view from earth after climbing to a high section and feeling the wind in your hair!
Below is the website for the Hostel that we stayed at in Beijing and who we booked our 'secret' Great Wall tour through <http://www.leohostel.com>
- Alli
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