The jumping-off point
The drive from Beijing to Mutianyu is mostly flat. Only in the last kilometers does the road rise rapidly, as hills appear abruptly. By contrast, the road to Badaling rises more slowly and over a longer distance. Mutianyu also differs from Badaling in that the little village, or jumping-off point, is well below the wall, whereas Badaling's Wall comes all the way down to the village. Thus we had to climb as much or more just to get to Mutianyu's Wall as we did to walk to the highest point along the Wall. The next few pictures show the little village where you park, buy your ticket and souvenirs, and begin the climb to the Wall.
Here is a view of the little parking lot. The boards in the background help orient visitors. Note the Wall and its parapets along the top of the hills in the background.
Here are photos of the Mutianyu area in the various seasons. The poster reads:
Tourist Map of Mutianyu Great Wall
Mutianyu Great Wall was built on the relics
of Northern Qi's wall under the leadership of Xu Da, the founding father of Ming
Dynasty. This section was queer and rare, because of dense enemy buildings,
crenels on both sides of the wall, watching buildings made up of three parts. On
the west are "Ox-horn Terrace" "Arrow Buckle" 'Upside-down
Flying Eagle" standing on the precipitous peak. That is the cream of the
Great Wall.
Mutianyu Tourist Areas are surrounded by high
mountains and green trees. It's scenery is elegant and beautiful. In spring all
kinds of flowers bloom and give off fragrance. In summer hills are covered with
jade green and streams flow slowly and quietly. In autumn trees are filled with
fruits and red leaves. In winter everything put on white clothes. How beautiful
North China is! Mutianyu was called the only flower of the Great Wall. In 1987,
Mutianyu was chosen through public appraisal as one of Sixteen Scenic Spots of
Beijing, 1992 appraised as the best of Beijing Tourist World, in 1997 appraised
as Beijing Civilizational Tourist area.
There are the first-class cable cars. In the
last few years we have made an investment of 50 million yuan to build
"China Dream Stone City' "Deer Zoo" and exciting "Shibide
Chute."
We welcome all the visitors at home or
abroad, with magnificent Great Wall beautiful view and best service.
TEL: 010-61626505 61626873 61626022
Even though few people were visiting the Wall that day, the vendors were out in full force. That meant that each one of them could devote more "attention" than normal to us tourists. Hmmmmm...maybe more tourists are better, after all!
On the positive side, here you could get almost anything you could imagine related to the Wall, plus a few things that weren't.
Vendors or no, this was such a beautiful place that we couldn't help feeling good.
There was even precision stone-carving that one could watch. This artisan was carving the equivalent to "Don't litter."