Chenggang Hotel Chengde

... creek running under the middle of it. Further up I found a couple of Buddhas with offerings in front and a little donation box (religions really are all the same). Out of respect (the kind of respect learned by having one too many Chinese yell at me) I didn't take any pictures of the statues, even up here where the were no other people. I guess they've trained me well.<br><br>After our return to the city, we spent much of the rest of the night doing ...

... sticks that people would wedge into the rock-side (if it stayed, its good luck for you). On our way back down, despite my attempts not to spend the few kuai we had left, I bought a little plastic souvenir of the rock. The vendor got such a kick out of my "wu kuai (5)" when she asked for 10, that she agreed.<br><br>We were now off back to the town, to enjoy a hot-pot dinner with her family.<br><br><br>

... arrived, we traveled to a village nearby (and owned by the town), for some authentic rural apple picking. A new fad in China apparently (as many rich business-men were doing the same) to go to the villages, and fill your own basket of apples straight off the tree (at a higher price than the market of course). Regardless, it was loads of fun, and I have a big bag of delicious apples.<br><br ...

June 6- Imagine traveling through the Chinese countryside on a comfortable spacious train, the hills unfolding before your very eyes! Well we had to imagine it too b/c we managed to miss the 6:30am train leaving Beijing's main terminal for Chengde by 4 minutes. Four little minutes made the difference between a 4 hour luxury trip and a psychotic honking bus stuck in Beijing traffic swerving around pedestrians and other vehicles that ...

... family that i have lost contact with in the year it has been since i was there. No such luck. Oh well i jumped on the bus and went down to see the temples that I had come to see. I started the temples at Puning Temple. I started here because it was the furthest temple that wanted to go to. It was also in the right directions to see the rest of the temples i wanted to see on the trip. This temple is famous for the giant carved buddha in the back. They claim that it is the largest ...

... and half tibetan in style, it contains the multi-armed spectalce of the statue of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. More impressive than the giant Buddha in the Lama temple in Beijing and thankfully not so crowded, at 22m in height it's certainly impressive. Maybe not really worth the journey unless you're properly into your Buddhism, though.

... engineers so much that they are probably already in Hell. They made stairs, yes, but some stairs were 5 cm high while others were 50 or even 80cm high, those differences are really ******* the legs in the long run. Verena and I made it to the top, where we were rewarded with a beautiful but VERY cold view over the area. And then started the decent. My legs were wobbly as Hell, and the fun had started to fade off, but down I came.

... my feet were still two blocks of ice. So at around 11pm we decided to go for a walk, but since it was really dark out there it turned into a very short walk, which more or less ended at the top of a hill, where we after a little bit og star gazing started to dance "The Lanciers". Dancing "The Lanciers" on a hilly, rocky ground, with slightly drunk/high people in utter darkness is a little difficult, but quite fun. Around 1am we decided to call it a night and go to bed.

... Emily and whispering among themselves that they didn't understand. Then they told Emily, "you have great English." This brought on a typical conversation. Emily: I'm not Chinese. Them: But you look Chinese. What are you? E: Australian. (Hesitations here, consults with me in English.) My father is Chinese. T: Why didn't he teach you Chinese? E: What did they say? Oh. He just never spoke Chinese. T: Thats too bad. You are Chinese. You should speak ...

... themselves Mongolian. For over 2,000 miles, the wall winds along the tops of mountains and hills. As with most structures in China, the Great Wall has evolved over the years. In its early form, it was not whole, but instead protected individual states. It became whole when China became unified during the Qin dynasty over 2,200 years ago. Most of the wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty about 500 years ago. During this time, garrison towers and higher walls were built, and invaders ...