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Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / April 2006how to get to great wall/mutianyu early in the morning ?
Hi, I'm trying to find some way how to get to Great Wall from Beijing before sunrise to make some pictures. Hotel trips are at the wall around 9-10 and it's too late. Is there any other way than taxi ? (wchich would be quite expensive I think) What do you think about Mutianyu ? I have read Badaling is very crowded and I'm looking for more quiet place but nice for pictures. Regards from Beijing Hubert > Hi, > > I'm trying to find some way how to get to Great Wall from Beijing > before sunrise to make some pictures. Hotel trips are at the wall > around 9-10 and it's too late. Is there any other way than taxi ? > (wchich would be quite expensive I think) Taxi is not really that expensive. Hire one for the day. > What do you think about Mutianyu ? I have read Badaling is very crowded > and I'm looking for more quiet place but nice for pictures. > > Regards from Beijing > Hubert >Taxi is not really that expensive. Hire one for the day. I have heard taxi costs around 400 Yuan per day, but taxi driver will take me to Badaling, closest and most crowded part of Great Wall. If I will choose some other, better place the price probably will rise to around 700-800 Yuan because of longer distance. Anyway thanks for the message. I have to check it personally how much costs taxi, not presume. Maybe it won't be so bad. Best regards, Hubert > >Taxi is not really that expensive. Hire one for the day. > > I have heard taxi costs around 400 Yuan per day, but taxi driver will > take me to Badaling, closest and most crowded part of Great Wall. If I > will choose some other, better place the price probably will rise to > around 700-800 Yuan because of longer distance. We paid 550 Yuan last October to go and come back from Jinshanling, which is quite far away (2-3 hours one way). More than justified considering the huge distance. Have you considered spending the night at the great wall? That's also an option.  SignatureAlfred Molon http://www.molon.de - 7000 photos of Asia, Africa and Europe > > >Taxi is not really that expensive. Hire one for the day. > > > > I have heard taxi costs around 400 Yuan per day, but taxi driver will > > take me to Badaling, closest and most crowded part of Great Wall. If I > > will choose some other, better place the price probably will rise to > > around 700-800 Yuan because of longer distance. No, Y350 is enough for a taxi for the day if you stop a few in the street and bargain (I've done it for Y300). Perhaps a little more now the price of petrol is up. Most Y1.6 taxis are only pulling that in on the average day, much of which is spent cruising round empty and stuck in jams. The distance to Simatai is around 120km and to Jinshanling around 140km. Many drivers welcome the chance of a trip out of town and guaranteed income. Of course they'll try and tell the foreigner that the fixed price for Badaling is ¥550 or some such nonsense. Just flag down a few in the street (not the ones hanging around your hotel) and discuss it. If you opt to pay road tolls the driver will take the expressway. > We paid 550 Yuan last October to go and come back from Jinshanling, > which is quite far away (2-3 hours one way). More than justified > considering the huge distance. Not justified at all. Around Y200 too much. But there are other options. Several hostels run tours for Y155 including entrance tickets for Jinshanling and Simatai, allowing you to do the walk between them. They start around 7am, and the travelling time is under two hours, if that's early enough for you. You can also go to Xi Zhi Men bus station and take a Chengde bus which will drop you at the turning to Jinshanling for Y40, leaving you a pleasant walk through farm land for about 45 mins to the base of the wall, or there are often farm vehicles that will take you for a few kuai. These buses leave from as early as 5am or so. You can return the same way and flag down buses heading from Chengde to Beijing (best not done on a Sunday afternoon/evening), or you can walk to Simatai, and negotiate a ride back to the main road from there--it's about 10km--and flag down a bus. Or you can negotiate a ride to Miyun, and take an ordinary bus from there for about Y8. From Simatai to the road or to Miyun is a matter of your negotiating skills. And if you do want to go to Badaling (which was good enough for Nixon, Elizabeth II, and many another head of state, and still is) you can get there by express aircon bus from Desheng Men for Y10 (the 919), and spend as long as you like. Walking away from the crowds isn't exactly difficult. Peter N-H http://www.datasinica.com http://peternh.blogspot.com Thanks Peter for many advices. I have been trying to catch some taxi with english speaking driver but it's very hard work in Beijing. I have flagged around 50 of them and only 2 were speaking english. They didn't wanted to go under Y400 even to Mutaniyu wchich is much closer than Simatai. I'll keep trying :) Best regards, Hubert >I have been trying to catch some taxi with english speaking driver but >it's very hard work in Beijing. I have flagged around 50 of them and >only 2 were speaking english. They didn't wanted to go under Y400 even >to Mutaniyu wchich is much closer than Simatai. >I'll keep trying :) We were in Beijing a few weeks ago and traveled to Mutianyu and the Ming Tombs. I don't know how much we paid, but relatively speaking it was probably a lot, as we hired a van, driver, and guide through our hotel (Grand Hyatt). That being said, visiting Mutianyu was worth every penny. Y400 is less than $60US - a bargain, considering the spectacular views and experiences to be had by visiting and hiking this phenomenal site. It was the highlight of our eight-day trip to China, and I'd go again in a second. Also, we didn't run into a single taxi or hired car driver who spoke any English. However, the wonderful men and women at our hotel's concierge desk were happy to help us with translating services, whether via cellphone or by writing out instructions/requests in Chinese. They were a great help, and made our trip much easier than it could have been. Michael W. Chicago, IL, USA Thanks Peter for many advices. I have been trying to catch some taxi with english speaking driver but it's very hard work in Beijing. I have flagged around 50 of them and only 2 were speaking english. They didn't wanted to go under Y400 even to Mutaniyu wchich is much closer than Simatai. I'll keep trying :) Best regards, Hubert Odpowiedz >Thanks Peter for many advices. >I have been trying to catch some taxi with english speaking driver but [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Odpowiedz When we went last year, we took the bus as recommended in a guide book and easily found an English-speaking taxi driver who took us to the wall, waited 4 hours for us, and took us back to the bus station. We didn't want to waste our time again at the Ming tombs. ;-) I think we paid Y120 (US$15 or so). Even if he wasn't English-speaking and entertaining I don't think it would have been a problem. You go to that spot you don't want to look at flowers or whatever. Just have the characters written down for where you want to go if you can't speak passable Mandarin. Best regards, Spehro Pefhany Signature"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com |
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