Great Wall of China with kids: 慕田峪 Mutianyu is the choice

Songkran is the best time to stay in Bangkok. Not because of the festivities and watergun battles (ok, maybe that too), but because everyone who is not from Bangkok would have gone back to their respective hometowns and work comes to a standstill, resulting in a less-crowded city with little or no traffic jams. However, for some reason, this year, I swapped a staycation in downtown Bangkok for an incredible 6D5N trip to Beijing involving 2 families, 4 adults and 4 kids (aged 3 to 7).

Time to share the million dollar photos of our Beijing trip, starting with this photo of all photos. #priceless #mutianyu #mutianyugreatwall #travelbeijing #beijingwithkids #surreal #strangerintiongkok #thekawayiis #thekawayiisinbeijing #前世晴人 #情人united #慕田峪 #greatwall #greatwallofchina #万里长城

A post shared by Eddie Yii (@strangerinbangkok) on May 3, 2018 at 3:35am PDT

I contemplated discussing in detail my entire itinerary like I did in the past for Hua Hin and Khao Yai, but no, because nothing in Beijing matters more than leaving our footprints on the Great Wall of China. It was personally, my 3rd time on the Great Wall, though the 1st 2 times were literally decades ago and obviously without the kids. So, with this post, I hope to give you as many tips as I can, to make a trip with kids to the Great Wall an unforgettable one.

The little one taking a breather.

1. Choose Mutianyu

There are 3 popular entrances into the Great Wall, with Badaling (closest to Beijing city) being the most popular of them all. Having experienced it myself, I would personally endorse taking a longer drive and go to Mutianyu instead.

Firstly, it is much much less crowded, which makes a hell of a difference especially during peak seasons, be it for comfort or photo-taking purposes (see the first picture above).

In the cable car.

Secondly, I recommend taking cable car up to Tower 14, followed by a leisurely stroll down to Tower 6 before taking the really fun and relatively-long Toboggan ride (no pictures allowed there) back down to the entrance area. It will give you a chance to take in the grandeur of the Great Wall during the stroll through many watch towers.

Stroll on the Great Wall

2. Timing

April usually isn't the most popular time to visit. It's approaching spring, but not quite spring yet. It can also get a little cold and windy high up on the Great Wall. But after this visit, I feel that it could be the perfect time to visit. It is less crowded, and even if the trees are not at their colourful best, the leaves and flowers are beginning to sprout, so it's not total gloom.

Spring is around the corner.

It's also good to note that we shot right down to Mutianyu from the airport at 7am right after disembarkation from a red-eye flight. Some might see this as a risk, given we have so many kids in tow, I feel that arriving at Mutianyu before 10am felt like a good decision, as the crowds have yet to build up and we could avoid the scorching afternoon sun.


3. Prep the kids before the trip

Thanks to my genius wife, my kids were shown documentaries and songs about the Great Wall of China (and other famous sites in Beijing) before the trip, so much so that by the time the trip came, they could already sing songs about the Great Wall and understood its significance.

Snacking in one of the watch towers.

Even though my little girl is only 3, and required me to carry her up and down uneven steps for long distances during our stroll, it's still more than surreal for me to see them actually running and playing on this monumental construction, one that means so much to our pride as Chinese. I wouldn't change the experience for anything.

Picture of my struggles, but we survived! I call this father-daughter bonding, haha.

So there you go, my tips and tricks for conquering the Great Wall as a family with small children. For those who are worried, I hope by doing it and sharing my experience, you will be encouraged to go ahead with your trip too!

Shot here directly from the airport after a red-eye flight. What splendor! Lucky kids got to witness the greatness early in their lives. #greatwall #greatwallofchina #mutianyu #mutianyugreatwall #慕田峪 #strangerintiongkok #thekawayiis #thekawayiisinbeijing #万里长城 #photobomb #peekaboo

A post shared by Eddie Yii (@strangerinbangkok) on Apr 11, 2018 at 11:58pm PDT

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and I will gladly answer them if I can.

Oh Teddy Teddy... and the dream comes true....

The dream comes true?

Nah.... not really. Some things, you never even dream of. If you adore Taylor Swift, or Ed Sheeran, would you even bother to dream of meeting them one day?

This guy, he's the reason why I watch football, and why I love Tottenham Hotspur till this day. Truth be told, the first Spurs match I watched was the 1991 FA Cup semi-final where Paul Gascoigne scored an incredible free-kick to win the match. Nothing to do with Teddy. Teddy took over the reigns from Gary Lineker in 1992 and from then on he became the absolute reason to watch Spurs in honestly not a very good period for the club (of course there was the Klinsmann season but the flame flickered out before we realised).

The reason why I love football.

He was really a one-of-a-kind football player. He was slow, thus played equally much with his brain as his feet. How he saw the game and made his team tick with his link-up play always intrigued me, and because he never relied on speed and took care of himself, he played well into his forties. In case you didn't know, he was the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League (for Portsmouth at age 38) and also the oldest player to score a Premier League goal (for West Ham at 40 years 8 months and 24 days).

Pick me. Pick me.

I wish he stayed at Spurs for his entire career, but I am pleased that he managed to win everything in the end, playing a huge part in it as well, though people sometimes undervalue his importance for scoring the equaliser and assisting Ole's winner in the 1999 Champions League final (matchwinner gets all the glory).

Anyway, a month ago, at the grand opening of Score Bar, here in Bangkok, I got to play pool with my footballing hero, took pictures with him, and had the honour of having him pick my name out of a glass, to present me personally with an autographed football. Talk about doing the impossible.

No captions needed.

So thank you Score Bar, for this truly #scoremoment, and also to Wilbur for coming along so that I can ditch my camera and concentrate on enjoying the night.

I am eternally grateful.

Photo credits: Score Bar.