Beijing & The Great Wall
We started the sightseeing of Beijing with walking around the Hutongs, low-rise residential historic alleyways dating back several centuries that are slowly being cleared and demolished. It gives a good insight how Beijing used to be before it became a megacity and how some residents still live today, for now.




Beijing is as flat as a pancake, however one man-made hill with a temple on top of it exists just North of the Forbidden City at Jingshan Park. As the night fell, we rushed towards the top inorder to take in the panorama across Beijing and in particular the roofs of the Forbidden City.

It was getting late and we were pretty hungry and wanted Beijing’s signature dish, Peking Duck. Our hotel advised us the best place only 5mins walk away but it only had a Chinese name. After 1hr walking, asking, and following hand-signed gestures from different people on the street we realised it was a wild goose chase (excuse the pun)! We unfortunately had to settle for their second best recommendation, which turned out to be the most famous Peking Duck franchise in Beijing and while pricey, it was tasty.


Fully recharged after a good night’s sleep, we embarked on a cultural day around the city using mainly the Beijing subway system. Surprisingly, the subway is very easy to use and navigate around the city. However, patience is required as you undergo a bag security check and metal detector wand-waving before entering any station.


First stop was the modern skyscraper area (similar to Canary Wharf in London or La Défense in Paris) with the CCTV Headquarters as the standout building. Midday was spent wondering around the 798 Arts District, a disused factory complex with art galleries, exhibitions, shops and museums. The area is huge and you can easily walk around and get lost all day, so we spent a good 2-3h there viewing different galleries and art works. Another building we wanted to see while in Beijing is the Birds Nest from the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, highlight from the Olympics 2008.




Saturday night meant, our best option for dinner was heading to Ghost Street, a bustling street full of traditional restaurants. It didn’t disappoint and we enjoyed Beijing cuisine but avoided the duck’s head and black chicken’s feet.

On the final day, we had tickets prebooked to see the unmissable Forbidden City, a palace complex dating back to the Ming dynasty. It served as the Chinese government for almost 500 years. The area open to the public is big enough to spend an entire day and admire the different temples and exhibitions.




It’s certainly very impressive and beautiful, and after an exhausting 2h walk around the premises, it was time to head out of the city to see another wonder of China: the Great Wall.
Throughout North China, you can see the Great Wall, best accessible from Beijing. Some sections have been completely renovated, which meant huge crowds and very photogenic wall as we know it. On the other hand, some have been left to the wild and don't attract the masses. After much considerations we decided for the latter, visiting the wild section at the village of Gubeikou. This meant a subway to get to the transport hub and bus 980 to Miyun and local bus 25 from there to the village; that was the plan. Due to a road accident on the expressway out of Beijing, we made very slow progress and time was ticking by. With a 2h delay we arrived at Miyun and we quickly realised there are no more local buses to Gubeikou for today. All the responses were the same: "no 25, come back tomorrow". There wasn't any reason to spend the night in this transfer city so we took up the taxi offer to be driven to Gubeikou up a hill where we can camp with our tent without a problem. Camping is legal in China, however as you cannot register the night with the authorities, and every night has to be registered, it can then be considered illegal, however some officials turn a blind eye to it.
By the time we arrived at the end of the road on the hill above Gubeikou, the sun had already set and it was pitch black. Without much hesitation we agreed on a spot to pitch the tent and cook some noodles. Nearby was a train track and the train horn felt more like the train is actually going through our tent. While finding a spot to urinate, Michèle discovered we had actually set up the tent on a train platform next to a train track which luckily ended right there. With every oncoming train (and there were loads throughout the evening and night) we feared it could be a train arriving at our platform. We decided to align our story in case any official appeared in the night for questioning, and then we tried to sleep.

The night felt long and at 5am we decided to pack up, getting rid of any camping evidence. We had been told by the taxi lady to get up at 4am, and we soon realised why as elderly men flocked to the platform, either walking the dog or performing some sort of morning exercise routine, popular across Asia (walking backwards seems especially popular)!


On the hillside adjacent to our campspot we woke to the view of a few Great Wall watch towers and across the valley we could see several more. We then hiked into the dense bushes trying to navigate towards the wild Great Wall and their watch towers. We made it to a couple and admired the view, but a huge spider and its web across the path cut the hike short.



We walked downhill into Gubeikou village to find another section of the Great Wall. Just along the river, we found a pretty section but also abandoned, so there wasn’t any easy access to it other than just admiring it from across the river.

The return journey was all very smooth and we even made it to Beijing with plenty of time to spare before our night train to Shanghai. A quick visit to the Tian’amen Square was on the menu followed by dumplings.



In UB we purchased a screw-top gas canister, for cooking food while camping. This was confiscated while boarding the high-speed rail to Shanghai. This was hugely disappointing as we intended to camp, cook, and take trains; clearly this country is not yet compatible with that simple pleasure. We will try to camp some more and take trains but may be reduced to fruit and nuts for meals.
