My Beijing Trip....Day 2

My daughter and I woke up early and got ready. Today was the day we planned to "climb" the Great Wall of China.... and we chose the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Then we headed out to the Subway station to head Dongzhimen where the bus station was. We manage to find the bus station which was very near to the subway exit.

We took the 916 bus to Huairou. From there my daughter and I manage to find a nice driver who took us to Mutianyu for RMB55 (RMB60 before bargaining) . Mutianyu is about 45 minutes away from Huairou

When we get there we got our tickets...which consisted of a shuttle bus to the foot of the hill, the ski chair lift type cable car and also the toboggan ride down the hill for a total of RMB158 

The experience of taking the ski chair ride was kind of exciting and a little scary... but nevertheless a memorable one... though I am not sure if I want to repeat it again...It is ok if you look forward and look up.... but if you look down and if you release your foot the little barrier locking you in is loosen... errrmmmm....... 

Here is a selfie picture of yours truly at the Great Wall of China... I think Michelle Obama came here too as there is a picture of her tobogganing down the hill.....

However the Great Wall of China has reminded me of my age... I truly felt my age climbing the steep steps which had me gasping and even wheezing at places...

This is the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, it is less busy since I came here on a Tuesday as well... and very picturesque... you can see amazing views...I really love it here and we were also fortunate that the weather here was perfect when we were here visiting... it was sunny without being humid and there was a lovely breeze playing around that definitely let our exhaustion evaporate faster...

After walking up and down two steep areas, we decided to quit and took the toboggan down. This was somewhat also exciting and scary.. Scary because you are not really allowed to apply brakes and fear for the person behind you ramming into you.......gulp.... My daughter was at the back of me and keep yelling to me to hurry up while I shouted back telling her to slow down... and that was scary... LOL

At the foot of the toboggan... these two old men kinda 'swindled' us.... they insisted on taking pictures with us then after that demanded RMB20 per person... Ah, never mind... I told my daughter to consider it a small donation to them....since they are old...

We then got some souvenirs... if you want to buy some souvenirs, the shops here are great... however be sure to BARGAIN as they will try to fleece you at a higher price if possible...We got Beijing and Great Wall t shirts for between RMB25 -30, fridge magnets for about RMB10. and Chinese seal (with personal name) for RMB40

We then headed back to Beijing via the same way we came.. the driver who sent us here waited for us patiently and help us get on the next 916 bus back to Dongzhimen.... from there we decided to go to the Yonghegong Lama Temple...which was just one step away from the Dongzhimen subway on the same line..

The Yonghegong Lama Temple was an interesting place despite having turned into a temple. The fee inside Yonghegong Lama Temple was RMB30 per person

I love the tree lined walkway to the inner gate which is just so pretty...

If you are a fan of imperial China dramas or Chinese History, like me, you would know that Emperor Kangxi had many sons, and this was the 4th prince's home before he became the Emperor Yongzheng...

My daughter and I did not go inside the temples but strolled outside admiring the buildings, carvings etc...We took many pictures and well, I will share more soon in other individual places blogs...soon...

When we have finished visiting the Yonghegong Lama Temple, we then headed to Xidan where we tried to do some shopping.... but gasp... the malls here are quite high end and everything seem pretty expensive...We settled doing a little shopping at the Joy Mall's Watsons, one of the international supermarkets and had a drink at the Starbucks there

Then we took the number 22 bus back to Xinjiekou.. because Xidan was just one straight road away... 

These were some of my haul... well, for my daughters and self... Love that mineral water... it was refreshing and the cream caramel in the black yogurt type container was super yummy... my eldest daughter could not get enough of it....

Living in the hutong at Xinjiekou area was a bit boring considering the shops were not halal and most of it were Chinese shops and such, and since we were only two women, my daughter and I decided not to go out or stay out too late....

We then had another early night.......and that was the end of Day 2...