Great Wall of China Toboggan Ride

Whenever my kids go to one of those upscale ice cream shoppes, their eyes grow wide, and they start asking for everything. What starts out as a simple outing to get a scoop of ice cream turns into a Bambi-eyes request for the ice cream and the mix-in and some hot fudge sauce on top.

On the Great Wall

That's kind of what our visit to the Great Wall of China turned out like. For many folks, visiting the Great Wall is a bucket list travel aspiration. Just getting to the Great Wall is enough. But thanks to my kids' circle of well-traveled classmates, they knew that the Great Wall had more to offer. There was no need for me to go online to figure out ways to make the excursion exciting for children. Asking around on the playground was enough. One activity kept coming up over and over again.

Slide down from the top of the wall on the toboggan run. 

Oh yeah, a visit to a Wonder of the World and a toboggan ride

What's up next? Water slides down the Pyramids of Giza?

How about getting up to the top? In all my Great Wall daydreams, I am already standing on the wall. I never considered how I would actually arrive there. Should we walk up? Goodness sakes, no way! 

Ride up on the cable car or chair lift.

Enclosed Cable Cars from the parking lot to the top 

So, this little bucket list item turned out to be visit the Great Wall and go up on a chair lift and ride a toboggan down. Can you see why the kids were excited? It's as if we went into that ice cream shoppe and said triple scoops, mix-ins, fudge sauce, and chocolate-dipped waffle cones for everyone.

Visiting the Mutianyu Section

We drive about 1.5 hours from Beijing to reach the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. This 2.3 km stretch is the longest restored section of the wall, and everything I read indicates that it's less crowded than the other sections closer to Beijing that are open to tourists. A tamped earth wall was built here in the sixth century, but it was upgraded during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) to a granite fortification with 22 watch towers spread out approximately every 100 meters.

As we pull into the car park, I gaze upwards at the wall snaking its way across the mountain pass about 100 meters above us. To get to the ticket office, we walk through souvenir stalls selling all sorts of Chinese memorabilia including the "I climbed the Great Wall of China" T-shirt that I buy my daughter at the end of our visit. (A week later, I regret not washing this black shirt separately from the rest of the laundry as I pull out a load of now-grey clothes from my washing machine.) 

Souvenir stalls

At the bottom, we have three choices for getting up to the wall.

• Walk up the footpath with 4000+ steps for 30-40 minutes
• Ride the enclosed cable car up to Tower 14 with option for return ticket down
• Ride the chair lift up to Tower 6 which includes toboggan ride down

Tip: The cable car and the chair lift are operated by different companies. If you plan on going up on one and returning to the bottom on another, buy both tickets before heading up to the wall.

Going to the Top

We decide on the chair lift and hop on. During the 10 minute ride upwards, I look around taking in the view. The surrounding mountains cloaked with autumn colors on this late-October afternoon are a sight to behold. After the bustling crowds of congested Beijing, Mutianyu is relaxing and literally a breath of fresh air.

Riding on the Chair Lift

Finally, we are on top of the wall. Jump for joy! This Great Wall moment is one of the reasons why I desperately wanted to visit China and was willing to go through all the hassle of applying for a visa... and getting rejected, reapplying, and paying the ridiculous rush fee despite having turned in the paperwork weeks beforehand.

Walking on the Wall

While the restored Mutianyu section of the Great Wall has a mostly smooth walking surface, there are still stair steps as it follows the ridgeline up and down. Lots and lots of steps. Merely getting from Tower 19 to Tower 20 involves 450 steps. In other words, don't bother bringing a stroller for your little one. 

The Great Wall stretches far into the distance

Here, the Great Wall stands 7-8 meters tall and is 4-5 meters wide. This width supposedly enabled a large number of troops and messengers to pass through the route, but I'm thinking that the steps and the narrow doorways of the towers probably served as bottlenecks. This section is unusual in that it has crenelations on both the inner and outer walls, allowing soldiers to fire on the enemy who were approaching as well as those who had breached the wall.

The end of October turns out to be a beautiful time of year to visit. The crowds from Golden Week earlier in the month are gone, and the trees are changing colors. Perhaps being a soldier stationed on the wall was not so bad if you got to stare at this all day.

The view looking north east from the wall

The summertime is reputedly hot and more crowded with foreign tourist. My son's friend walked the wall one winter and declared it "the coldest he's ever been." One of my mama friends visited in late March and was surprised to encounter snow. While her older kids enjoyed the sight of their first snowfall (and the younger one cried about freezing toes), they were disappointed to discover that the toboggan run closes when it's snowing, raining, or for other bad weather conditions. 

Mountains start to fade away

I rein in my teen boy while we are up there. Faced with all this expansive scenery and the top of the Great Wall stretching out before him, all he wants to do is run. He longs to go up and down steps from tower to tower as fast as he can. Instead, he has to make do with going no more than one tower ahead and waiting while the rest of us caught up. Poor guy, because this mama is quite slow, stopping to take photos every few steps.

Exploring Watch Towers

Tower 5 of the Mutianyu section has a covered 2nd story

Most of the watchtowers are a single story with stairs leading up to the open rooftop. Tower 5 is unusual in that the 2nd floor is also covered. Back when the Great Wall was still in use as a defense system, lookout guards were stationed on the towers. If they spotted attackers approaching, they lit a signal fire on the roof to warn the surrounding towers. Since the towers were built on hilltops, it was easy to see the smoke during the day or firelight at night. Any guard who saw a signal fire built his own fire in order to pass along the message to alert the troops to ready for battle. Lanterns on poles and flags were other ways to communicate between towers. 

Looking out from a watch tower

The average Chinese man is shorter than his Western counterpart. Plus, people who lived four centuries ago when the towers were built were shorter than modern folk. Put these two together, and you get granite doorways that were much too low for hubby to walk through upright. 

Watch your Head! 

Tower 1 has not been restored, and its derelict state shows how much work has gone into improving the wall for today's tourists. Visitors are not permitted on the section eastward from Tower 2 to Tower 1, but some explorers and photographers ignore this as the wall's rustic ruins makes for wonderful photo ops. 

Visitors climbing on top of the ruins of a watch tower

The Graffiti Problem

Unfortunately, many people decide to commemorate their time at the Great Wall by scribbling or carving their name into the granite bricks. Have a little respect, folks.

Almost every brick on this watch tower had graffiti. Most of it is not Chinese.

In order to help protect the wall, Chinese authorities announced this week that they have set aside specific areas near Tower 14 where graffiti is permitted. This move will hopefully limit the area of damage. A proposed plan also involves touch-screen electronic graffiti walls for tourists to go crazy leaving their mark where it can presumably then be erased with the touch of a button.

Finally, the Toboggan Ride Down

The end of our walk culminates with the much anticipated 1580 meter (almost 1 mile) toboggan ride down. The carts accommodate both single or double riders, and my girl decides to ride with her dad. Pushing the lever between your knees forward releases the brake to let the toboggan start sliding down the track, and pulling it towards you makes it stop. Adjust your speed by how far you push it. Before we arrived, I pictured Olympic luge-worthy downhill speeds. Following my girl, it turned out to be a rather slow-paced ride since it took a bit of strength to push the lever forward enough to go fast. Luckily, her oldest brother was ahead of her and could shoot downhill as fast as he liked.  Overall, it's a safe ride for kids, although two L.A. Lakers managed to injure themselves in separate accidents while visiting a few weeks before us.

Getting ready to ride the toboggan down

The Great Wall of China did not disappoint. In fact, it turned out to be much more exciting than what I would have expected when it went on the bucket list decades ago. If you're looking to check the Great Wall off your own list, I highly recommend doing it at Mutianyu. The only thing that could have made it better would be a deluxe ice cream parlor at the bottom.

Related Posts:

Running around Beijing's Olympic Green

Terracotta Warriors and Tandem Bikes: 24 hours in Xi'an

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, and Friday Postcards on Walking On Travels. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

To Kuranda by Cableway, Back Down by Rail

Cairns, Australia turned out to be a fun, family trip. After our morning at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, we next headed up through the Queensland tropical rainforest to the mountain village of Kuranda. One of the best parts was getting there and back. It was a Transportation Vacation! To get up, we took the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway which gave us soaring views over the tree canopy. Our journey back down to Cairns was via the Kuranda Scenic Railway with fabulous views of Barron Gorge.

Departing on the Skyrail Cableway from Cairns with the Coral Sea in the distance

We walked from Tjapukai next door to the Caravonica Terminal to board the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. From there, it's a 7 kilometer ride over Barron Gorge National Park to Kuranda taking about 90 minutes. Don't worry! You (and your children's tiny bladders) aren't trapped in this steel and glass bubble the whole time. The cableway makes two stops on the way so that you can disembark and explore the lush rainforest. Only about 30 minutes is in the air while the remainder is spent walking among the flora and fauna of the area.

As we passed over the McAlister Range, the Coral Sea and the coastline disappeared behind us. It took us 10 minutes to reach Red Peak Station, and the family enjoyed the view of the vast forest below us. At Red Peak, we got off to take a stroll around the 175 meter boardwalk trail. The trees towering over us are so different than the ones in the Malaysian tropical rainforest. My son especially liked a fern that had attached itself halfway up a tree trunk and surrounded it like an upturned skirt. You may even come face-to-face with a cassowary if you're lucky or unlucky, depending on how you view a close encounter with this large, fierce bird. At the very least, you can examine the cassowary droppings on display at the station.

Hint: Read this BEFORE you encounter a cassowary.

After getting back on the Cableway, we once again found ourselves sailing far above the trees that eventually part to reveal dramatic Barron Gorge. This portion of the trip takes about 14 minutes. At Barron Falls Station, you can walk down to a few viewing platforms to enjoy gazing at the falls at your leisure. These powerful falls were harnessed to generate hydroelectric energy back in the 1930s. This stop has about 400 meters of easy trails as well as the Rainforest Interpretation Center. It's not big, but the interactive exhibits were informative and interesting.  Then, it's back in the cablecar for the 10 minute journey to the final stop, Kuranda Terminal.



Heading over the Barron River to Kuranda Terminal

From the terminal, it was a short, uphill walk to Kuranda which calls itself the "Village in the Rainforest." There was so much to do up there! If we had a whole day, we may have enjoyed the walking trails, Koala Gardens, Birdworld, riverboat tours, Rainforestation Nature Park or the Butterfly Sanctuary. However, we only had a few hours until our train departed for our return to Cairns.

First off, we needed lunch as our tummies were growling. The main street of Kuranda has a wide selection of eateries, and we decided on the outside deck of the aptly named Kuranda Rainforest View Restaurant.

We didn't get to the aviary, but we did see a wild cockatoo at lunch.

Afterwards, we had about an hour to stroll up and down the street window shopping at all the arts and crafts galleries, jewelry stores, and little stores. It's no surprise what kind of place caught my kids' eyes. We had time for some sweets and treats before heading to the train.

Kuranda Candy Kitchen

The narrow-gauge Kuranda Scenic Railway departs Kuranda twice a day at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. We had reservations for the later time and definitely did not want to arrive to see the train pulling out of the station. It takes about 90 minutes to reach Freshwater Station where we got off or 2 hours to get all the way to Cairns. A range of class options are available with the fancier ones offering a dedicated hostess and refreshments. We settled for the budget Heritage Class which was just fine.



Waiting for the All Aboard call

The train makes a brief stop so that everyone can get off for a look at Barron Falls. I thought the view at this angle was quite stunning and much better than from the cableway station on the opposite side. A weir at the top of the falls intercepts some of the water and channels it to a hydroelectric power station, decreasing the volume of water that would have otherwise cascaded down the rocky slope.

Barron Falls cascades down 260 meters to the bottom of Barron Gorge.

As we listened to the clickety-clack of the wheels on the rails, a commentary on the speakers told us about the history of the railway and the area landmarks. We also received a souvenir guide with more information and a map. I will admit that the recently purchased candy also provided some amusement during the ride.

The main engine pays tribute to the Aboriginal dreamtime legend surrounding Barron Gorge and Barron River. The story tells us of Buda-dji, the Carpet Snake who carved out the river and its tributaries. This famous snake is depicted on the engine in traditional Aboriginal artwork.

Buda-dji the Carpet Snake winds down the side of the engine.

As we made our way down from the Tablelands, we had plenty of time to gaze out the windows that were open to let in air. We passed by smaller waterfalls, saw steep ravines and traversed trestle bridges. Near the end, I was quite excited to see a wallaby hop across the tracks. All my Aussie friends are amused that the rest of the world loves kangaroos and wallabies so much, but I thought seeing this animal topped off our outing nicely.

Enjoying the passing landscape

We had gone to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef, so spending an excellent day learning about Aboriginal culture and then riding both cablecars and train carriages was an unexpected bonus. I highly recommend it!

IF YOU GO:

• Package tours including Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, the Skyrail Cableway, and the Kuranda Scenic Railway are easy to find. You can do it early online at a discount or at one of the many tour operators with storefronts in the touristy part of Cairns or at your hotel once you get there. They are available both with our without transfers from your hotel.
• If you drive yourself, keep in mind that the Skyrail Caravonica Terminal in Cairns and the Kuranda Railway Station in Cairns are about 15 minutes away from each other by car. You will need a way to get back to where you parked your car if a transfer is not included in your ticket.
• You can also go the opposite way taking the Kuranda Railway up (2 morning departures) and the Skyrail Cableway back down. However, you may not have time to do everything at Tjapukai. 

Related Posts:
A Visit to Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park
Why My Kids Love the Sydney Opera House
The Allure of Uluru (Ayers Rock)
It's the Great Penguin, Charlie Brown (Kangaroo Island)


This post is part of "Travel Photo Thursday" on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh, The Places I've Been!" at The Tablescaper, and Sunday Traveler at Ice Cream and Permafrost. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.