Great Wall of China

We drove about 43 miles north of Beijing to get to the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China.

Great Wall of China

We passed some farming villages in the countryside on our way to the Badaling section. Not too inviting looking in the wintertime.

Great Wall of China

Lama Temple

Hand–drawn Picture of the Lama Temple, also called the Yonghe Temple and the Yonghe Lamaery. The Lama Temple is the best–preserved and largest lamasery (the residence of lamas; lamas is the Tibetan word for religious leaders). It was built in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) as the residence of Prince Yongzheng before he became the emperor of China. This is why the Lama Temple was built in the style of an imperial palace. In 1744, it became a lamasaary. It is still an active temple.

Lama Temple

Great Wall of China

There were many sections of the Great Wall to be seen along the way from our bus window. The Great Wall of China extends for 5,500 miles, some of it in bad shape and some of it in good repair.

Great Wall of China

More of the Great Wall. A great site to use to decide on which part or parts of the Great Wall you may want to climb up is www.travelchinaguide.com. Search for the Great Wall.

Great Wall of China

More of the Great Wall.

Great Wall of China

And more.

Great Wall of China

Another farming village in the countryside.

Great Wall of China

More of the Great Wall.

Great Wall of China

And more.

Great Wall of China

I think Kathy told us that this is a tiger preserve or perhaps a wild animal preserve.

Great Wall of China

We have arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, the most popular part of the wall for tourists.

Great Wall of China

Another view of the Badaling section.

Great Wall of China

And one more. The construction of the Great Wall of China began about 2000 years ago. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) the wall was strenghtened to how it looks today. The wall was built to repel invading tribes. The area around Beijing was made especially strong.

Great Wall of China

Starting out climbing the wall.

Great Wall of China

Upward. It is a steep climb.

Great Wall of China

Onward.

Great Wall of China

Walking through the watchtower. Ice on the walkway.

Great Wall of China

Looking out through an opening in the watchtower.

Great Wall of China

On the other side of the watchtower.

Great Wall of China

A steep climb up to the second watchtower.

Great Wall of China

Looking out through an opening in the second watchtower.

Great Wall of China

Stairs and the next steep climb up to the third watchtower––steeper than the lower sections. If I didn’t feel like a walking balloon, hadn’t walked miles already these last two days, and wasn’t overloaded with my camera, camera bag, and tote bag (all good excuses), I think I would have pushed myself to make it to the third watchtower. Now, of course, I wish I had.

Great Wall of China

Going back down. Steep but not as bad as going up. There is a cable car up to the top watchtower here and also cable cars at other sections of the wall. If I come back to China, I think I would go up that way, then walk down (or take one up and down?). However, I climbed up far enough that I can say that “I Climbed the Great Wall of China” and that was good enough for me.

Great Wall of China

Some of our group climbed up the wall on its other side––you can see that side in the photo. The climb is steeper on that side but it is not as crowded.

Great Wall of China

Our Tour Bus

We got back on our bus to go back to Beijing. A very nice sized bus for the 14 of us, but because we were such a small group, we only had much smaller buses in other cities.