So I have finally made it to one of the greatest wonders of the world and I hope that you can to with China Tours or even to find your own way there is as just as much an invaluable experience. When you’re in the depths of your china Travel visiting the Great Wall of China is a complete must. There are three parts to the China wall. I went to The Jinshangling part of the Great Wall with a group. The Jinshangling wall is the best preserved part of the Great Wall and is the furthest away from central Beijing.
We organised our tour to Jinshangling with China Travel Depot. We arranged for about 7 – 8 of us to go but two dropped out at the last minute so could not use China Tours for our travels there. If you decide to use China Tours then you will get a tour guide with lunch included etc. Instead we decided to make our own way there due to the uncertainty of numbers in our group.
It took 2 hours for us to get there on a bus from Liuliqao Long Distance Bus Station. I was so tired from the night before I ended up nodding off for the most part of the bus journey (such a great way for a long journey to go quickly). We arrived at Jinshangling Intersection and got a 9 seater van to the Great Wall. After a 1 hour 15 min drive in the van we finally arrived at the Great Wall, Jinshangling. We got out of the van and this cool breeze just came out of nowhere. We arrived at Jinshangling at around 10am. The cost of entrance to the Great Wall was 50 Yuan.
Entrance to Jinshangling
It was so cold we had to buy some gloves from the local stall near the Great Wall entrance which cost around 30 Yuan. The stall also sold hats, scarves, tissues, chocolate bars etc. Standing inside the park entrance to the Great wall were crowds and crowds of people orienteering on the mountain car parks. It looked like so much fun it was almost worth asking if we could join in with some of the activities but with a long day ahead of us had no time.
The Great Wall at Jinshanling is located about eight kilometres (five miles) southeast of the Bakeshiying Township in Luanping County in Hebei Province. It starts from the Wangjinglou Tower in the East where we started our journey and ends at Longyukou in the west and stretches about 10 kilometers (six miles). The Jinshanling Great Wall is situated on what is called the Big and Small Jinshanling. It has five main passes and 67 watchtowers. I think we reached about the 16th watch tower on our journey. We walked for almost 6 hours and during that time we were taking a lot of photos.
Watch Tower
Every 100 meters (328 feet) we walked found an enemy tower each of which is about ten meters (33 feet) high. Featuring various structures and having various functions, found that these watch towers were either one tiered or two –tiered. On the first floor there were some windows which I think were designed for shooting arrows. The roofs of the towers were many and varied, flat, arched, quadrangular or octagonal. Some were used to store weapons and hay. Others were used as soldier’s bedrooms.
Among these many watch towers the most celebrated are the Big and small Jinshan watch towers. It is recommended that the Wangfujlou Tower, The general Tower, The Black Tower and the Taochun Tower are a must-see on the Jangshinling wall. It is thought that each Tower has its own Legend. For example: The stone bars used to build the Wangjinglou Tower were carried to the mountain top by Er Lang Shen, the nephew of the Jade Emperor. The general tower was named to commemorate Wu Guihua, a heroine who sacrificed herself to resist northern invader’s invasion in the Ming Dynasty. The Black Tower and the Toachen Tower were christened to Commemorate two girls, Heigu and Taochun, who made great contributions to the construction of the Great wall.
There are also bricks with words written on and the retaining wall which is also a must see. While at the Jinshangling wall there’s also the opportunity to use the cable ride which costs 30 Yuan one way and round trip is 50 Yuan. We wanted to leave this ride for another day as we were mainly interested in walking the Great Wall. When it got to 3 pm we decided to make our way back to the Lungyukou. We walked for at least 45 mins and finally made it back to our destination, our 9 seater van, back to the bus stop. We caught the bus back to Liuliqao Bus Station and then made our way back from there.
When you’re in Beijing visiting these tiring and exhilarating top attractions make sure you’re staying in the best China Hotels to end your day the exotic way.
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I have to agree with the blogger, Jinshanling is indeed a great part of the great wall. As they say in China, Chong cheng shi chong!