Together, the three of us did the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu for 245 CNY (+150 CNY for the Slideway down).  Which means our entire trip to the Great Wall for three people cost us less than $60 USD.  We took the 936 bus out to this more scenic and ‘less’ touristy section of the Great Wall and added a ride down the slideway for only slightly more than it would have cost one person to take a tour to the Badaling section.

At first, Jade and I were excited to figure our own way to the Wall, and then it was just me, and now I would have to say, I don’t recommend this option.  Don’t get me wrong, The Mutianyu Great Wall was everything I had hoped the Great Wall to be, and I am infinitely glad we made it.  However, the manner in which we took the trip was super stressful and ultimately, like any tour we would have taken, we were a slave to timetables.  In case you do want to try taking the bus to Mutianyu Great Wall, here is the way we figured it out and some tips we had to learn the hard way.

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Everyday in Beijing was packed with amazing sights and yummy food from the moment we woke up until the second we laid down. We were seeing beautiful temples, gardens and lakes and eating absolutely delicious foods. Sometimes it seemed like we couldn’t find our way or wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone, but we always managed to come out on top. Here’s day three in Beijing as told from my journal:

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I’ve traveled a lot before. Ever since starting this blog and becoming friends with so many world travelers (who update ALL. THE. TIME.), I was a little naive about how often we would be able to update the blog and tweet our adventures.

First of all, WiFi is something that I totally take for granted in the U.S. It’s freaking everywhere. I can update my blog, tweet, check emails and play games all online, all at the same time, from almost anywhere. That is not the case for us so far. Maybe we don’t know what to look for (I mean, we are searching out WiFi everywhere) or maybe people are spending more time at internet cafes than actually experiencing life. And finding a place that has WiFi for free- forget about it! When we actually did find it for free, the signal was so weak that I could barely check my email- let alone send one or write a blog post.

Maybe we are doing something wrong. Maybe we don’t know where the gold pot of WiFi is… Fellow travelers- HELP A TRAVEL BLOGGER OUT! I’m trying to share my stories and tweet about all the cool things I’m doing, but so far it isn’t as easy as I thought (or I want it to be). I’m open to any and all suggestions!