Exploring Mutianyu

     I guess you've heard of a line popularized by the movie Jerry Maguire, "You had me at hello." Well, that's what happened to me when I went to visit Mutianyu. A lot of tourists have been raving about how beautiful the place is and the thrilling experience of riding the Toboggan down the wall adds more excitement. Before my trip, I've been Googling a lot about the place and I saw a lot of pictures. Some were extremely old as if they've taken it a decade ago and some were badly captured which failed to captivate its true beauty. Somehow it made me think that there must be more to it than it meets the eye. So, I convinced myself to visit and witness the breathtakingly beautiful scenery no matter the distance.

 On my way

     It was the 4th of September, a chilly yet sunny morning in Beijing, I was getting ready to take a journey outside the city. On my way to the nearest train station, I saw a group of American guys heading the same path and I had this intuition that we are going to the same location because it was around 6AM. Obviously, no tourist attraction would be open at that time. The day before the trip, I was told by the receptionist at the hostel I was staying that have to leave early so I can catch the first trip at 7:00AM and be back before dawn. The trip would consume the whole day due to travel duration and length of walks on the wall. 

     So my intuition was right when the guys headed to the Dongzhimen Subway Station Exit B to take Bus 916(express line). Actually, there are two bus lines heading to Mutianyu. One may take Bus 916(express line) which travels from Dongzhimen to Huairou Bus Station, get off at Qingchun Lu Beikou, Huairou Bei Dajie or the terminus and then hire a mini-bus to Mutianyu. The most convenient way is to take Tourism Bus No. 867 at Dongzhimen which will directly take you to Mutianyu in about 2.5 hours . 

     After asking for directions from the guards outside the bus station where the boys entered, I continued to walk further to reach Dongzhimen Transport Hub in Dongzhimen Waixiejie where the terminal for Bus 867 is located. About 10 minutes walk from Dongzhimen Subway Station Exit B, maybe more if you get the wrong exit. If I remember it correctly, it was just below the Airport Express Train exit. The hub is strategically located at the righmost part at the back of the building.

  

                                               Dongzhimen Transport Hub

     I arrived at the hub at exactly 7:00AM yet no sight of Bus 867. So, I started asking questions again hoping to get the answer I need so I won't be left behind by the bus. Luckily, I saw a couple from the UK who were standing in front of the waiting shed allocated for the passengers heading to Mutianyu. They told me they arrived at 6:30AM and nobody could tell them why there's no bus in sight. To make my story short, the bus got delayed for 2 hours! Within that period, from 3 passengers, it went up to 20 standing in queue. That's how desperate we are even though some of us were contemplating on cancelling the trip due to the long wait.

Arrival at the wall

     As the bus finally arrived, we happily boarded the bus inspite of the predicament we have to go through. After 2.5 hours of travel, we finally reached the foot of the wall. Before we got off, the conductor reminded us of the trip schedule back to the city which was at 14:00(2:00PM) and 16:00(4:00PM). Naturally, majority of us decided to go back by 14:00 since we don't want to go through the same predicament going to the wall. We immediately got off the bus and hurriedly went to the ticket booth to pay for our admission ticket, as if were contending for the Amazing Race Mutianyu and be given an award whoever gets to enter the wall first! No time to waste, upon receiving the tickets I went up the hill on my own.

                                                Lost my Toboggan ticket

                                    

     Due to my carelessness, I didn't notice that I lost my Toboggan ticket that I was holding the whole time on my way up to the wall. To make things worse, I only realized that my ticket was gone when I reached the 22nd tower of the wall. I was already exhausted and hungry, to walk down the wall and go back to the ticket booth would just be a waste of time and energy. Surely, I won't be able to catch my chosen bus schedule for my trip back to the city. Left with no choice, I talked to the Toboggan conductor to convince him on giving me a free ride since I lost my ticket. The guy firmly refused and asked me to scour my stuff just to make sure I didn't misplace the ticket.

     Out of luck, he collected the payment for the ticket replacement while I was in queue. I was a bit teary eyed when I handed him the money not because I was relieved that I don't need to go back to the ticket booth but I was immensely pissed at myself. Later on, the conductor suddenly grabbed my hand and gave me back my money. Then he secretly made a sign not to tell anybody. Overwhelmed by his kindness, I gave in to his request to have his photo taken with me before I hopped onto the Toboggan and bid him goodbye.