Wild Wall Weekend - Beijing - Trip Report
 

Hi all. We have just returned from a unique experience I thought I must share with all of you - a Wild wall weekend. This is a weekend spent at a very basic farm house type property 2 hours outside Beijing and focussed entirely on exploring less touristy parts of the Great Wall, hosted and guided by William Lindesay the conservationist who has spent the last 15 yrs living in China and researching the Wall. We reached Fri evening and over the course of Sat-Sun went for 2 sunrise walks and 1 evening walk. Each walk is 8-10 km over terrain which is uphill in places and fairly rough in others but leads you to view the wall from vantage points which are amazing, at points where the history of this monument suddenly make so much sense - William is obsessed with the Wall and along route and at rest halts shares many of his theories on why, what, where, how. Am happy to answer questions or share more of our experience....

Sounds like a unique experience. How did you find out about it/ get it arranged? Was it you, your better half, and Mr. Lindesay? Or was it a group? Who lived at the farmhouse?

I first heard about it from Peter_N_H who has unfortunately been AWOL for a few weeks! Look it up on www.wildwall.com. The website does not really capture a great deal of the weekend. Let me add some things based on our experience. Facilities at the farm house are VERY basic which we did not expect frankly. Toilet, sink and bathing room 3 separate units, only 1 of each but fact that is separate allows paralell processing. We were 5 adults plus 1 8 year old. Other guests at the same time was a family of 5 - parents plus 17, 15 & 11 year old. Our group got 2 rooms - the family of 3 had one, my husband, me and a snigle female friend shared one. The farmhouse is a weekend retreat for William, his Chinese wife, 10 and 4 yr old son selected I assume for its proximity to vantage points for hiking the Wall. He has staff including a cook who cooked the most AMAZING Chinese food I have ever eaten - it is served fresh off the grill/stove and all the walking really makes you hungry. The rooms are really just beds and we spent our time when we were not walking the Wall outside in the common compound. We transferred by car with William from Beijing airport to his farmhouse then on Sun afternoon from the farmhouse to the China World Hotel where we spent a night. Being in a group helped IMO as we were together while hiking (everyone could not keep pace with William so we naturally split into 2 - our group including the 8 yr old brough up the rear with William's helper, Mr Hur who is very sweet but speaks no English) and at the farmhouse - bear in mind that with rooms so basic you are outdoors a lot and being with friends makes it a "camping" type experience.

Hello Hobbes

Could you give us an idea of the cost for the Wild Wall Weekend? Sounds like a very interesting experience.

Thanks

It was $250 for the weekend - which was Fri dinner until Sun brunch. The transfer from Beijing airport to the farmhouse (which it is highly recoed you do with William as the farmhouse is tough to find) was another $70. All US dollars.