Becoming a man...

[amberjack1234]

Randy your pictures of Mutianyu look like the old original stones that the original wall was made from.

 

Jessie your pictures look like the reconstructed wall at Balaling all of the stone used there are newly made and constructed over the old wall bed.

 

At least that is what my tour guide told me when I visited each one of them. She and I became close friends.

 

Either way thank you both for sharing.

 

Larry

 

 

It looks like Randy's pics are from the same place we were....Mu tian yu....

I liked the older sections the best rather than the restored sections. I have even seen sections on other web sites that were in very bad shape and no more than a foot path on the top. I would like to visit one of those sections someday as they seem to have more undisturbed character and history to me anyway.

 

All of your pictures were great. I do wish I could have returned this year but I had to do a lot of work on my mothers house. Next we plan to buy a new apartment for her parents and our nephew that lives with them.

 

Larry

[IllinoisDave]

I liked the older sections the best rather than the restored sections. I have even seen sections on other web sites that were in very bad shape and no more than a foot path on the top. I would like to visit one of those sections someday as they seem to have more undisturbed character and history to me anyway.

I'm with ya Larry. We went to touristy Badaling and it was way cool and I'm glad we went. But I definately want to go to some of the more rustic parts the next time we go.

[Randy W]

 

I liked the older sections the best rather than the restored sections. I have even seen sections on other web sites that were in very bad shape and no more than a foot path on the top. I would like to visit one of those sections someday as they seem to have more undisturbed character and history to me anyway.

 

All of your pictures were great. I do wish I could have returned this year but I had to do a lot of work on my mothers house. Next we plan to buy a new apartment for her parents and our nephew that lives with them.

 

Larry

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/great-wall.html

 

http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/wallofchina_aug08_388.jpg

 

http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/lifelist-great-wall-388.jpg

 

Ding, 52, lives alone in the shadow of the wall near Sanguankou Pass. He corrals his 700 sheep at night in a pen that abuts the 30-foot-tall barrier. Centuries of erosion have rounded the wall's edges and pockmarked its sides, making it seem less a monumental achievement than a kind of giant sponge laid across gravelly terrain. Although Ding has no idea of the wall's age¡ª"a hundred years old," Ding guesses, off by about three and a half centuries¡ªhe reckons correctly that it was meant to "repel the Mongols."

[Randy W]

from National Geographic

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0301/feature1/images/zm_zoomin.1.1.jpg

 

western end:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/JiayuguanWall.jpg/800px-JiayuguanWall.jpg

 

http://www.kinabaloo.com/gw7756.jpg

 

http://www.chinatour360.com/images/photogallery/china-great-wall-g90013026.jpg

[usaRichard]

We took the cable car to reach Mutianyu, so we start out and I see a sticker on the window that reads "President Bill Clinton road in this cable car" and gave a date I believe. I should have taken a photo of it.

[amanda1969]

We took the cable car to reach Mutianyu, so we start out and I see a sticker on the window that reads "President Bill Clinton road in this cable car" and gave a date I believe. I should have taken a photo of it.

The reason why Richard is so impressive for Mutianyu is he proposed to a Chinese woman on it.

Edited February 15, 2009 by amanda1969 (see edit history)

[IllinoisDave]

We took the cable car to reach Mutianyu, so we start out and I see a sticker on the window that reads "President Bill Clinton road in this cable car" and gave a date I believe. I should have taken a photo of it.

The reason why Richard is so impressive for Mutianyu is he proposed to a Chinese woman on it.

Then he has an excellent reason.

[amberjack1234]

Thank you Randy for the pictures and the link. That is what I'm talking about.

 

Amanda that must have been very romantic. I wish that I had proposed is a similar fashion.

 

Larry

[Joanne]

Thank you Randy for the pictures and the link. That is what I'm talking about.

 

Amanda that must have been very romantic. I wish that I had proposed is a similar fashion.

 

Larry

 

Our daughter gets excited at every mentioning or photos of the Great Wall. I will take her there this summer. I can hardly wait.

[amberjack1234]

Thank you Randy for the pictures and the link. That is what I'm talking about.

 

Amanda that must have been very romantic. I wish that I had proposed is a similar fashion.

 

Larry

 

Our daughter gets excited at every mentioning or photos of the Great Wall. I will take her there this summer. I can hardly wait.

Joann I am kind of like your daughter when I see pictures of the beautiful places in China. My wife on the other hand has very little interest in any place in China except Beijing. This disheartens me somewhat.

 

Larry

[GZBILL]

Randy your pictures of Mutianyu look like the old original stones that the original wall was made from.

 

Jessie your pictures look like the reconstructed wall at Balaling all of the stone used there are newly made and constructed over the old wall bed.

 

At least that is what my tour guide told me when I visited each one of them. She and I became close friends.

 

Either way thank you both for sharing.

 

Larry

 

 

It looks like Randy's pics are from the same place we were....Mu tian yu....

I liked the older sections the best rather than the restored sections. I have even seen sections on other web sites that were in very bad shape and no more than a foot path on the top. I would like to visit one of those sections someday as they seem to have more undisturbed character and history to me anyway.

 

All of your pictures were great. I do wish I could have returned this year but I had to do a lot of work on my mothers house. Next we plan to buy a new apartment for her parents and our nephew that lives with them.

 

Larry

 

Mutianyu is much better than Badaling, but must people don't go there because it is about an hour further.

 

Even during peak tourist seasons, Mutianyu is not hearly 1/4 as crowded as Badaling and there are no porn DVD sellers every ten meters either. Overall, it's a much more comfortable and pleasant experience plus you get to see a little of the Beijing countryside on the way there.

[IllinoisDave]

and there are no porn DVD sellers every ten meters either.

This is a bad thing or a good thing?

Edited February 17, 2009 by IllinoisDave (see edit history)

[usaRichard]

and there are no porn DVD sellers every ten meters either.

This is a bad thing or a good thing?

Well I was at Badaling and Mutianyu, didn't see any such sellers, but I would not have been looking for that. But coming off Mutiantu was like running the gauntlet of booths, the first booth offered tee shirt for 100 yuan the later ones offered the same for 20 yuan.

[Zhen's Tiger]

As Mao said, you're not a real man until you climb the Great Wall.

And not just a real man, but a good man haha

[Joanne]

Thank you Randy for the pictures and the link. That is what I'm talking about.

 

Amanda that must have been very romantic. I wish that I had proposed is a similar fashion.

 

Larry

 

Our daughter gets excited at every mentioning or photos of the Great Wall. I will take her there this summer. I can hardly wait.

Joann I am kind of like your daughter when I see pictures of the beautiful places in China. My wife on the other hand has very little interest in any place in China except Beijing. This disheartens me somewhat.

 

Larry

 

I know your feeling.