Dehui Hotel Chengde

... much needed shopping at the local, underground department store. I got myself a coat, pair of pants and a shirt and a new, small suitcase for these little trips that don't need my massive fly cases I came to China with. I got my gal one of the same and a sweat-coat with the big buttons. Since we spent above a certain amount of money we got a rice-cooker for free (China is strange), I won't fight it since I need one, but it was really a pain to carry back.

The day of the 4th and 5th we took a long distance bus to the nearby prefecture-level city of Chengde. Chengde is well knows as the Summer Resort during the dynasties where the emperors would travel to escape the heat. Much of the mountain city is taken up by 'Bishushanzhuang', aka the Summer Resort. And, of course, this was our highest order to see.<br><br> The summer resort itself is basically a ...

... named after him! Beer , incidentally, was the order of the day when I finally ended the hike by descending across a dam by zipwire, to travel a few minutes downriver by boat, where a hearty lunch and a well-earned bottle of cold 'Tsingtao' awaited me. (You will be shocked to lean that this was only my fourth beer since leaving Helsinki over a month ago!!! I'd better rectify this habit before I get to Australia!)<br><br> <br><br><br>

... town of which I took some great photos.<br><br> The following day, and day after we took the bus to Chengde city for some sightseeing and adventure. At our return in the night in between, I had my first taste of Mahjong and had to read up on how to play. I love board games, and this and Go seem to be all that's played here, so I better learn and get a board, just need to avoid playing for money.

... en malade. <br><br>D'apres mes observations, pour obtenir un permis de conduire en chine, il ne faut suivre qu'ue seule regle tres simple: respecter les feux rouges. Tout le reste, on a le droit de le faire. Meme pour traverser une rue a pied c'est intense. Les autos ne s'arretent pas pour les pietons, et inexplicablement les pietons eux non plus ne s'arretent pas pour les autos. Comment ca marche pour pas qu'il y ait de mort? Eh bien c'est comme ...

... One thing they don't tell you about the buses in China is that after departing they usually make a second stop to wait until the bus fills with passengers. About half hour outside the city we stopped for almost an hour until our bus (which had previously just included the two of us) was nearly full. See video for the the real story (it won't load on the main page you have to scroll through the pics at the top to view the ...

... I am ready to go to the temples around town and get temple overload.<br><br>My first temple was Putuozongcheng Temple, which built based on the model of Potala Palace in Tibet. This is the closer I could get to Tibet as I can (on this trip anyway). It was interesting to gain a view on the Tibetan culture. As it was the beginning of spring, I was one of the few tourists there. The climb to the top of the temple is not for the faint hearted, but the ...

... look like any of the other statues i have seen before. Then again since it was a Qing dynasty building and all the statues look strange that might have something to do with it. Next I jumped back on the bus and headed back in the direction of town. I got off on the stop for Xumi Fushuo Temple. I did not wander around the temple very much. This was in part because my foot was beginning to hurt and in part because I ran into a bunch of Peking University students (all of them being ...

... but I still REALLY wanna see the real one before Tibet is being runover by the hordes of Chinese tourists. In the afternoon we saw the Imperial Summer Palace, nice but nothing special either. I had been told that Chengde was really nice, but I wasn't all that impressed, I guess that I'm still a little saturated after 2 month holiday in South-East Asia.my In the evening we had dinner Manchurian style, loads of meat, all of it really greasy.

... I had to explain "kiss," "pregnant," and "women's rights as individuals." Kiss was demonstrated with closed eyes and air kisses much to the delight of all. Pregnant was easily pantomimed. Women's rights as individuals proved trickier and I ended up with this lame explanation: In America, years ago, women couldn't do what they want. Now they can have any job they want and make a lot of money. I also used hand motions to show men used to be high ...