Beijing, 2019-18: Great Wall at Mutianyu

Mutianyu is located in the Huairou District of Beijing. According to historical literatures, this section of the Great Wall was built under the supervision of General Xu Da of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. In 1987, it was selected as one of the top 16 Beijing scenes. In 1992, it was one of the top tourist spots in Beijing. ...
This section of the great Wall was built in a unique way. Here the many watchtowers and passes were built on the steep mountain. Forts were built on the two sides of the Great Wall. There were three watchtowers and a tower called "Zhengguantai", which could rarely be seen on the Great Wall. The northwest part of the Great Wall was constructed on the 1,000-m-high mountain ridge. The "arrow rock" and "lying eagle" sections were laid on the precipitous cliffs. This section of the Great Wall goes along the mountain ridge like a flying dragon.
The Great Wall-Mutianyu is also a resort featuring beautiful scenes all year round with a forest coverage rate of 96% - flowers in brooks in spring, brooks in summer, red leaves in autumn and snow in winter. Mutianyu has been well-known home and abroad as one of the best places to see the great Wall.

--inscription at Mutianyu


This is my second visit to the GWOC, my first was to Yuyongguan in 2009, blogged here. Since that post was a bit short on photos, I've been a bit more expansive this time (plus I have a better camera).

TB, his mom and I took a private car to the ticket office, followed by a bus ride to the nearest place to the Wall. Then, you take a cable car to the wall per se.


I think I got a really good shot of one of the watchtowers as we approached. You can see the area is well-forested:


The siting of the place makes for some stunning views, and I got a couple of good shots! (plus one of me)


It wasn't particularly crowded, though I saw a few foreigners willing to brave the high heat and humidity. Not sure why this rock is photo op:


Once you come down from the wall, you work your way through a kilometer-long commercial street where you can buy loads of Chinese crap souvenirs, over-priced coffee and an amazing photo op:


That's what I call a photo-op!

Beijing, 2019-18: Museum of Paleontology

The Beijing Zoo was so so so packed on the day of my planned visit that you couldn't see the ticket office that I eschewed my desire to view pandas and Pere David's deer that I went with my Plan B, which was the Paleontological Museum across the street. That's the museum in the foreground and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences behind it.


The museum is quite well-done, though it lacks much in the way of English, starting with a neat sculpture garden:


I love those water spouts.

One of things that impressed me most was the purely scientific approach to human origins: it is evolution straightforwardly, with no wheedling nods to Creationism or Intelligent Design. There is some debate on this, but supposedly that's Beijing Man at the bottom:


The museum covers the entirety of earth history, and attracts the entirety of the populace, young and old alike. I was enthralled to see even a very young docent leading a group tour, and doing so with confidence!


A few more displays:


And, finally, the piece de resistance of any paleontology museum, the dinosaur hall:


Rrroar!

Beijing, 2019-18: Olympic Park, Bird's Nest

In the foreground is the Olympic Tower, built to resemble blades of grass and to mirror the five Olympic Rings, and the stretch of the Olympic Park to the Bird's Nest, the 2008 main stadium, as seen at the Planning Exhibition Hall.

Here are two views of the actual tower:


It's quite a long walk from the subway to the Tower, and a much longer walk from there to the Bird's Nest, especially on a very warm Saturday in June. We happened upon a large group of people, in the shade, singing a concert of patriotic songs:


Here are a few views from the observation platform, 222 m to 228 m high, including one of me standing on glass jutting out into space:


Finally, a view of the Bird's Nest:


And here's one more shot of the Bird's Nest, from the Bird's Nest:


But seriously, here's what the stadium looks like inside:


Here we see the Chairman's waiting area, and a more plebian one (love the motif):


A view from the stadium to the National Aquatics Center across the park's thoroughfare, usually called the Water Cube, and finally from a 10 RMB per person shuttle as we made our way to our waiting car:


Big thanks to TB, my Boy in Beijing, for all the tickets and stuff!

Beijing, 2019-18: World Park

I took a side-trip from Beijing and visited Easter Island!

Just kidding, of course! But I was able to strike another thing off my "bucket list", the visit to a "miniature park" that I've always wanted to do since I read about the one in Brussels associated with the World's Fair there in 1958 (the World's Fair, not when I read about it). With over 100 acres and 1.5 million visitors per year, Beijing's World Park is worth a day out! Within those 100 acres, you can visit the US, Africa, Europe, Australia and Asia.


The setting of the place is really beautifully done and well-manicured. The day I was there, a wedding shoot was being done:


Copenhagen's Little Mermaid above is full size, though scales vary wildly, and are identified in the plaque accompanying each locale. Behind her, though, you can see some rental boats, which are one of the ways you can get around World Park aside from walking:


To be honest, the camel doesn't leave "Egypt".

Entering England, you find Sean the Sheep and friends (presumably full-size) before finding Stonehenge (not full-size). Also full-size is Brussels' Mannekin-pis, which would look tiny if miniaturized (I've seen the real one, and it is underwhelming, size-wise):


Elsewhere in Europe, I found this famous bell tower about to fall over, and came to the rescue:


The Arc de Triomphe framing the Eiffel Tower at 1:4 scale:


And a model of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany:


Great care was taken in the construction of the models here. Check out some details:


That last site is Borobudur built in Indonesia in the ninth century at 1:10 scale, which has 505 buddhas perched on its nine floors.

There's lots to do, including a children's area:


And, finally, the world's largest (not full-size) religious building, Angkor Wat:


If you're interested, I visited the actual temples of Angkor, and you can see full-size buildings at this link or by clicking on Angkor in the label cloud. Similar shot:


Take the Fangshan line to Dabaotai station in southwest Beijing, exit A/B. It's a fifteen minute walk along the main road to your left.