Construction to the pre-cursor of the Great Wall dates back 221 – 206BC. The Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) constructed most of the perceived 6 259 kms of brick wall. It is difficult to calculate the actual length of the wall, as it is firstly not a continuous piece of west-to-east construction as there are numerous walls branching off it and there are natural defensive barriers like lakes and cliffs scattered in between. Secondly, due to the passing of time and acts of war, some of the wall has been destroyed to the point that some historians now believe that the original wall could have been as long as 8 850 km. Restored sections of the wall was opened in 1955 to the public.
We visited the Mutianyu section of the Wall. It is not the closest to Beijing, but the most popular among foreign tourists, as domestic travelers – for some reason – do not often visit this specific section. It translates to less people!! See some of the unreal (and empty) pictures below. At this specific section, one can either travel to the wall by cable car (up and down), or ski-lift (up and down), or ski-lift up and toboggan down. Seeing that we always chase new experiences, we went with the latter option.
Beijing 
Beijing 
Beijing 
Beijing 
Beijing 
Continue reading China – part 7 (of 20).