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madtownhustl
Joined: 04 Jun 2009
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 Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 11:20 pm Post subject: Great wall in a weekend? |
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| I work at a public school but is seeing the Great Wall do able in one weekend? I'd have to be back by Sunday night... thanks. |
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waynehead
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno
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| Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, it just takes one day, and generally after seeing it once you don't want to go back again. It's an hour or two outside of Beijing, so if you got in Friday night or early Saturday morning you could be toasting your experience Saturday night. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| waynehead wrote: |
| Yeah, it just takes one day, and generally after seeing it once you don't want to go back again. It's an hour or two outside of Beijing, so if you got in Friday night or early Saturday morning you could be toasting your experience Saturday night. |
Yeah.. I agree, and I am Chinese...hahahaha..
But the last time I went it was sub-zero temperature (at Christmas) and I was NOT about to go up there again!! |
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waynehead
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno
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| Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I also went at Christmas and it was one of the coldest days in my life. |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| waynehead wrote: |
| I also went at Christmas and it was one of the coldest days in my life. |
Yeah I was so happy when my cousin brought me a latte from Starbucks when he came down..hahaha..
Isn't it crazy that they have a Starbucks up there?? |
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bbb0777
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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http://wikitravel.org/en/Great_wall_of_china
On the above link you can see a summary of different parts of the great wall accessible from Beijing. I'd recommend Mutianyu, almost as close to Beijing as the part everyone else visits, but less crowded/much prettier setting (lush forest). They also have a several-minute toboggan ride to take down off the hill, which is odd, but really fun.
By the way...if you're going, I'd recommend seeing some of Beijing as well. The Great Wall only take smaybe 4 hours roundtrip (more if you take a tour that wants to stop at the silk shops). Forbidden City/Temple of Heaven/Tienanmen Square/Summer Palace are all the very top sites.
Last edited by bbb0777 on Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:45 am; edited 1 time in total |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| I'm headed to Beijing on Friday and want to see it on Saturday. How much does it cost ? |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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The Great Wall tour lasts about a day and cost about $20USD.
Hope its worth it  |
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waynehead
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno
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| Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| It's definitely worth it, once, but as someone else said there's gads more cool stuff to see in Beijing as well. IMO Beijing is the best tourists' city in Asia, maybe in all of the world. I've been 3 times and will certainly be going back again. |
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definitely maybe
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:25 am Post subject: |
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| avoid badaling. way too touristy. jinsaling to simitai (sp?) is a far better experience in the beijing area. it's 10 km, but well worth it. |
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Enigma
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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I'm going to second the Jinshanling to Simatai section. I went two years ago on a weekday in early November and I didn't want to go somewhere that was overrun with tourists (like most of Beijing).
That section was almost deserted. It was fantastic. You do need to be in decent shape, because it's up and down the whole way, but it's definitely worth the work if you really want to see the Wall. I think it took us about 3 hours to get there by bus, we hiked for about 4 hours, and then another 3 hours back to Beijing.
I arranged it through my hostel in Beijing for I think a little over 200 RMB ($25-30). |
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madtownhustl
Joined: 04 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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i'm going in February for a long weekend. Do you recommend hostels or hotels? The travel agent said the hotel would be around 50k a night.. suggestions?
Also, how easy is it to set up a tour to the wall? where would i need to go? |
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prideofidaho
Joined: 19 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| madtownhustl wrote: |
i'm going in February for a long weekend. Do you recommend hostels or hotels? The travel agent said the hotel would be around 50k a night.. suggestions?
Also, how easy is it to set up a tour to the wall? where would i need to go? |
I went last April and shelled out for a nice hotel. The concierge of the hotel was a well known tour-arranger and he sorted out what I think is the best way to see Beijing. Hire a taxi for the day. We did the Temple of Heaven and Great Wall in a day. Since we had a taxi it was fast to get around and we didn't have to wait for anyone. It wasn't cheap but it also wasn't overly expensive. I think it's a common thing for people to do.
As others have said you can see the great wall in a day. I went to Badaling and it was empty (might have been a fluke) but the further 'less' touristy walls are a lot farther away from the city. Be very careful when booking a tour. There are a lot of scams, and I even saw some pour suckers who were beign hussled about to market after market when all they thought they signed up for was the great wall, etc. |
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tiger fancini
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Location: Testicles for Eyes
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:15 am Post subject: |
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| Enigma wrote: |
I'm going to second the Jinshanling to Simatai section. I went two years ago on a weekday in early November and I didn't want to go somewhere that was overrun with tourists (like most of Beijing).
That section was almost deserted. It was fantastic. You do need to be in decent shape, because it's up and down the whole way, but it's definitely worth the work if you really want to see the Wall. I think it took us about 3 hours to get there by bus, we hiked for about 4 hours, and then another 3 hours back to Beijing.
I arranged it through my hostel in Beijing for I think a little over 200 RMB ($25-30). |
Thirded. I went on the same tour in summer and lost a few pounds of sweat. Great day for taking pictures though, this tour is definitely a winner. Not too many people, and a great restaurant at the end which was included in the price. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| definitely maybe wrote: |
| avoid badaling. way too touristy. jinsaling to simitai (sp?) is a far better experience in the beijing area. it's 10 km, but well worth it. |
I second the 10k hike. It's fantastic and the only people I saw were those in my group. Then we ziplined over a frozen river at the end of it. Amazing. |
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