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Great Wall of China -- Badaling Section

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Great Wall of China - Badaling Section
great wall of china - badaling section
Suzhou - Fisherman's Garden, Master of the Nets Garden
Forbidden City - Former "white house" to the Emporers of China
Suzhou Humble Garden
Beijing Hutong - 700 year old neighborhood with rickshaws and labyrinth streets
beijing lacquer and woodcarving factory
Ming Tombs - 400 year old excavation of the final Ming Emperor
Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Section
Sacred Way, Sacred Path - Ming Tomb garden of stately and animal statues
Funny Signs Gallery, funny chinese signs, funny warning signs
Suzhou silk factory
Suzhou, China
Summer Palace - Former garden of the Emperors on a lake
Suzhou, China
Temple of Heaven - former Chinese Emperor worship area
Tiananmen Square - memorials, governement buildings, Mao's tomb
Suzhou, Tong Li - Little Venice water city
Beijing, China
China driving, Beijing traffic, beijing builldings
Beijing, China
suzhou, tong li - little venice water city
Beijing Cloissonet Factory - lavishly decorated copper, kiln-fired urns, pots, and plates
Forbidden City - Former "white house" to the Emporers of China
Great Wall of China - Badaling Section
Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Section
Beijing Hutong - 700 year old neighborhood with rickshaws and labyrinth streets
Ming Tombs - 400 year old excavation of the final Ming Emperor
Sacred Way, Sacred Path - Ming Tomb garden of stately and animal statues
Summer Palace - Former garden of the Emperors on a lake
Temple of Heaven - former Chinese Emperor worship area
Tiananmen Square - memorials, governement buildings, Mao's tomb
Beijing Lacquer and Woodcarving Factory
Suzhou City Traffic
Suzhou City Traffic
Suzhou - Fisherman's Garden, Master of the Nets Garden
Suzhou Humble Garden
Suzhou silk factory
Suzhou, Tong Li - Little Venice water city
funny signs gallery - funny chinese signs
Trip Preparation
Frequently Asked Questions
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MickTravels to China - Beijing, Suzhou
Trip Preparation
Micktravels Home
MickTravels to China - Beijing, Suzhou
Badaling Section is one of the 4 places that the Great Wall of China is accessable to tourists. It's the closest section to Beijing, so the crowds can be rough. The Badaling Section was also quite steep, so a lot of people don't make it to the top. If you can make it past the second tower your agoraphobia should subside. Check out the pictures on my Panorama page, too!

On the way to the Great Wall Badaling section. It is visible long before you get there.

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The stone plaque is a replica of Chairman Mao's handwriting and reads something like, "You are not a real man until you have visited the Great Wall."

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Badaling is the closest to Beijing of only 4 publicly accessible points. It is therefore the most crowded. It is also very steep, and the well-intentioned populace thins out quite a bit after only the second tower.

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I don't quite understand the custom of adding an identical engraved padlock and red ribbon to a long chain railing on the inside of the wall. I think it was for luck.

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There appears to be no room at the coveted end of the chain for a single extra lock.

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Very steep, but everyone is willing to give it a try.

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The crowd is constant towards the bottom. Make sure you bring your parasol. In this and all subsequent pictures, pay attention to the mode of dress these exercisers are wearing -- dress slacks, dress shoes, polo or button-down shirts...

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Our friend with the parasol and business-casual clothing is making it to the second tower pretty well.

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The funny thing is that this affidavit is nowhere near the top of the wall. It's also not very populated, so I guess most people don't care.

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The thinning throngs continue their trek at a more moderate pace. Notice the girl at the bottom in the pink tank top - she's coming up in another picture.

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Railings come in handy on the steep parts.

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Wow, we're up pretty high already. You can see the parking lot to the left of the tower filled with tour busses.

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The girl in pink stops to make a phone call. There are more active cellphones in China than there are people in the USA. And every phone that I saw was new and feature-loaded.

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There is a hiking path up the side of the mountain that almost nobody takes. It passes through 2 pavilions, one of which can be seen here. We took that route down. I recommend it since you get a completely different view of the Wall.

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I'm not sure if we're even halfway up yet and the view is spectacular. The man in red at the bottom is raising his arms in victory for the camera a little prematurely. Note the garbage can and think of the poor sod who has to empty that thing once or twice a day.

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Another look up. Those are not the final two towers. The crowd has really thinned out here.

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The Wall really isn't that high above the ground here in Badaling. Indeed there are areas which are probably less than a foot high to allow you to take a different path. This entire section of wall is restored and not guaranteed to be perfectly authentic.

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Most Chinese cannot speak English. I maintain that most cannot read English either. I saw many, many shirts with nonsensical English writing on them including one that simply read, "this shirt has red and white lettering on it."

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Another premature celebrator, but if she made it this far I'm sure she'll make it all the way.

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Getting very high now, still a ways to go.

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That's still not the final tower in the distance.

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Just above a rare flat spot on the Badaling Great Wall it looks like the wall drops off into oblivion.

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You thought we were high before...

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Nope, that's still not the last tower. I think there are at least 5 more to go.

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Wow, does this picture make you dizzy? You can see the highway very far below in the ground haze. Here the wall appears to drop off into nothing. No crowds except for a few men in business-casual slacks, shirts, and dress shoes.

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This gorgeous view of the valley is obstructed only by pollution.

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Hey, if this woman and her father can make it up this far, don't you think YOU can, too?

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OK, I think that's the last tower up there.

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They even adorned the restrooms with guardian figurines.

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Dang, is it ALL stairs?!?!

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Another hazy valley view.

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Inside any given tower it's quite plain. Reminds me of what a dungeon should look like.

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Here an older woman makes her way down.

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Two older gentleman all dressed up prepare to pass each other on the Great Wall. I think the Great Wall should really be renamed The Great Staircase.

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Getting there.

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Almost to the top. The two buildings on the left are bathrooms.

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I zoomed in on one of the pavilions on the branch pathway. You can also see where they built a crossing for the wall to go over the river.

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Almost to the top. Looking back you can see two different towers, but almost nothing else.

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Well, there's a small crowd at the top including one tour group that all wore white baseball caps and took their turns standing on the ledge, cheering, and having their picture taken.

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Can't get any higher.

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Can't get any higher.

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The view from the top of the Great Wall Badaling section.

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Across the river there's another section of the wall that is flatter and (therefore?) much less traveled. I didn't have the time to go on that section.

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From the top of the Badaling Wall you can see off in the distance how the Wall continues to snale its way through the mountains.

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On my way down I passed this woman all dressed up, so I had to get a picture.

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Just below the bathrooms the wall is barely a foot off the ground, and you can take a separate path/staircase that snakes around through 2 pavilions. Indeed we spotted a small snake on this path.

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Looking back on the alternate mountain path.

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This path gives you a great view of the wall from "outside." You can really get a sense for how steep the staircase is in some spots.

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This path gives you a great view of the wall from "outside."

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The upper pavilion with a view of the across-the-river wall in the background.

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pavilion and Great Wall.

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Pavilion and Great Wall.

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The figurines on the pavilion are more intricate than the ones on the bathroom. Makes sense, I guess.

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Yours truly posing in the pavilion.

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There were a number of wildflowers in bloom along the alternate staircase path. You won't see them if you just take the Wall up and back.

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The lower pavilion is at about the same elevation as the Wall across the river.

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Looking back at the lower pavilion.

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More wildflowers in bloom along the path.

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At the Badaling section, the Great Wall pretty much makes a loop. This is the second crossing of the highway and river.

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Entrance to a temple that we used as an exit.

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Another wildflower.

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A huge spider at the bottom of the Great Wall alternate path.

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