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The Great Wall at Mutianyu, its stone battlements running along a wooded ridge towards distant mountains under a pale blue sky.

Journeys · 4 parts

Beijing, 2018

Exploring the City With My Family

Where
Beijing and the Mutianyu Great Wall, China
Travelled
24–29 September 2018
Written up
October 2026
Parts
4

In September 2018, my wife travelled to Beijing for work, and our son and I went with her. We spent six days in the city, from 24 to 29 September, staying at the InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun.

While my wife worked, my son and I explored the area around the hotel, and in the evenings we went out together as a family. On 28 September, we joined a small-group tour to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Mutianyu Great Wall.

Start from part one: Exploring Beijing With My Son →

The stories, in order

  1. Part 1 · 24–27 September 2018 · Beijing

    Exploring Beijing With My Son

    Walks around Sanlitun with my son while my wife worked, a little help with Chinese, a lunch I struggled to pay for, and evenings out together as a family.

    4 min read

  2. Part 2 · 27 September 2018 · Beijing

    An Evening Among Beijing's Hutongs

    An evening walk through one of Beijing's hutong neighbourhoods, with lanterns, little shops, rose-shaped ice creams and hotpot for dinner.

    2 min read

  3. Part 3 · 28 September 2018 · Beijing

    A Morning at the Forbidden City

    A small-group tour begins at Tiananmen Square, our guide gets us past an enormous queue, and we walk north through the Forbidden City's vast courtyards, halls and gardens with our young son.

    3 min read

  4. Part 4 · 28 September 2018 · Mutianyu and Beijing

    The Great Wall, a Toboggan Ride and Three Lucky Toys

    A nervous chairlift ride up to the Great Wall at Mutianyu, steep steps with our son in my arms, a toboggan ride down to shouts of "Faster, faster, Daddy!" and three lucky claw-machine toys.

    4 min read