The Mother of all walls

If you are fortunate, you get to visit one of the wonders of the world in your lifetime. If you are truly blessed, you have the opportunity to be awed more than once.

This Easter weekend I was twice blessed by visiting Beijing and its fascinating sights for the second time, albeit a very different trip than my last visit nearly 20 years ago pre hubby and kids. Unlike my last visit, which entailed a 20 hour flight, this time it was a hop, skip and a jump of 3 hours. Travelling to China always comes with a bit of anxiety (for me at least). Once you step into China, you leave behind Google, Uber, credit cards and most importantly, English. On our last trip we became somewhat more confident in using Didi, but the inability to communicate (and having a 5 person family which usually means more than 1 taxi) causes some complications. This time, as we stepped out, a man waved us down and somehow using gestures and a translation app, managed to coax us into taking his private taxi to our hotel. I have to say that while there are complications, China in general feels safe - I don’t think I would get into a non licensed taxi in another part of the world. Ofcourse, this comes at a price - we later found out we had paid more than two times what it would have via Didi, China’s version of Uber.

However, the car was spacious and luxurious - V and I even had a massage function on our chair! Thanks to our wonderful friends J and R, who were meeting us in Beijing, we stayed at the Grand Hyatt (R works for them). The kids loved all our Hyatt stays as they received some cute stuffed animal at both Hyatt hotels we stayed at(as if we need more stuffed animals - we already run a zoo at our house!). After ordering some room service, we called it an a night as we had an early start to see Forbidden City the next day. Thanks to websites like Viator, booking and finding an English speaking guide was a breeze!

While I was lucky enough to visit the Forbidden city twice, it’s apparantly my fate to see it in the rain! We woke up to a grey sky with threatening clouds. We managed to get about an hour into our tour before it began to downpour(and the kids began clamouring to go home). The Forbidden city is one of the largest imperial palaces I have seen. It spans 178 acres! You walk though compound after compound of buildings. While not as intricate as some of the palaces in India I have seen, it’s immensely impressive, especially when you think about the time it was built. It has 8700 rooms and 90 complexes! If I ever get the chance to visit again, let’s hope third time is the charm and I get to see it in the sunlight!

After a quick lunch and swim at the hotel (what a swimming pool!), we set off to our next destination, the Commune by the Great Wall, another Hyatt gem. The drive was quite long, but definitely worth it. The hotel is really a collection of unique villas each designed by 12 famous Asian architects. Our villa was beautiful- large living room with huge French windows, a beautiful kitchen and dining area and 3 rooms over 3 floors. If I were designing my own house it would definitely include floor to ceiling windows. The kids had a fabulous time running around with their friend (all kids really need is space and company). I think that’s all adults need too! The hotel is in a stunning location, surrounded by mountains and only a 10 minute drive to a section of the Great Wall. Thanks to R, we were once again treated like royalty and even got our own private room for meals.

The next morning we had the privilege of visiting one of the great wonders of the world - The Great Wall. During my last trip I visited the Badaling section and while stunning, was overrun by tourists. This section, the Shuiguan, a hidden gem, was phenomenal. With only a handful of other tourists and no vendors (although one random camel in the middle that we couldn’t imagine having climbed up), it gave us the chance to truly appreciate what a wonder this site is. The wall which spans over 20,000 kilometers is truly a feat. Originally built to protect China from invaders, oddly enough was built as independent walls for various states and did not become one cohesive structure until the Qin dynasty.

While it looks daunting to climb, it’s actually easier than our local Tigers Head hike. Some parts are steep and require you to hold on to the side, but most of it is just steps. Even V did it effortlessly, and in fact wanted to keep going!

We loved our stay at the Commune and I would highly recommend staying here and visiting this section of the wall! They even threw in a photoshoot - we seem to get our annual pictures taken at the Hyatt every year!

The next day our friends J, R and their daughter L had to leave so we decided to hire a car to take us to the summer palace and the hutong area of Beijing before driving to our hotel near the airport as we had an early flight the following day. When you think of China, you imagine crowds and while we didn’t see this on the wall, the Summer Palace was the opposite. I have never seen so many people in one place! The Summer Palace was beautiful, but so crowded we didn’t even make it all the way up to see the residential part of the palace. We did walk around the gardens, which is its claim to fame. There is even a large lake within the grounds with a lovely boat ride to take you to the other side (yes it’s that large!).

As it was a Sunday, now I truly understand why people say never to visit the mainland during any public holidays! As the day was still young, we decided to check out a Hutong, which is really just a narrow lane with houses on each side. Originally, it was designed like a chessboard. We went to a tourist one (I think there are ones that have preserved more of the traditional feel), but we quite enjoyed walking through the narrow alley lined with restaurants and shops. We even managed to find an all vegetarian place to grab lunch!

Beijing is a wonderful city and I would definitely go back (maybe sans kids) to explore more of the neighbourhoods on foot!