Tales and Spills: Commune by the Great Wall

The highlight of my beijing adventures! A treat at the great wall when jas was here on her holiday! An alternative to making a day trip to the great wall, is to actually stay at the great wall (or in our case, by the great wall). So named commune by the great wall because the commune is literally located by the great wall. Exclusive only to hotel guests of the commune, the untouched section of the famed Badaling! More on the great expedition in the next post. Its hilarious and definitely worth many mentions.

Interestingly, the commune is part of a major art collection project co-designed by several asian architects. So huge is this project that it also got a special placing at the la Biennale di Venezia (beats me, but sounds really prestigious!). The Commune consists of several uniquely designed villas (some with really strange names) widely spread across the grounds. You've got to call in the driver (all provided for) to travel from one building to another. Each villa houses about 10 rooms. And in each villa, there is a common kitchen, living area and chill out area where you can interact with the other travelers. But coz its winter, occupancy rate is at its lowest, probably below 40%! So we practically owned the place!

There is so much to do within the compound, even more so during summer! There is a play mansion for kids (this is where the kidos go to when the adults are out at the wall), lots of hiking trails, free-to-book movie theater and there is always an option of just lounging your time away (a glass of wine and a book at hand) with a balcony view of the great wall. Sighhhhhs.

We girls got so excited, we wanted to do everything all at the same time! We did a little trekking, had a sumpteous dinner and sang the night away. Sighhhhhhhs. Take me back again.

The Commune