Huilong Hotel Chengde

... the last time I had done it was last summer in China - before that was many, many years. But, lucky me, I didn't get killed by a truck, just rode, eyes plastered on the road ten feet in front of me, and my skin pale and clenching tightly to the lifeline of the handlebars.<br><br>We biked for about an hour, far off the main highway through small farming and factory villages, past a field full of goats and along a meandering river. The destination, I ...

... including ethnic Mongols and Manchus. From the top of the temple looking out was a wonderful view of the north end of Bishushanzhuang and the northern temples with the city.<br><br> The next day, returning to the city, we took a series of buses to the entrance of what is knows as 'Sledgehammer Peak'. This peak is a very unusual natural rock formation that looks like an inverted sledgehammer and ...

The Great Wall of China: a symbol of both China's power and its vulnerability, dating back as early as 221 BC, and winding along steep, wooded mountain ridges for more than five and a half thousand miles. Although it wasn't entirely satisfactory as a defense line, breached by the mighty Chinggis Khan, it served as an extremely effective communication network, with towers able to send smoke signals along its length, and was also ...

... next day was mostly spent on some very long meals and with meeting of people, but in the evening I was able to take a nice hike up the mountain behind the town. Here there are a series of pagoda's and tomes below the tree line that give an increasingly picturesque view of the town. At the top (a summit I was graciously suggested to attempt alone :P), there is a very large pagoda overlooking ...

... avec influence tibetaine et mongole. Ils etaient bien jolis et ca faisait quand meme pas mal different de ce qu'on a vu jusqu'a maintenant.<br><br>Cote bouffe, eh bien honteusement on dejeune aux popsicles. Mais ils sont tellement bons, pleins de choix de trucs gros et succulents comme des magnums et des drumsticks, qui ne coute que 25 ou 50 cennes, et goutent bien meilleurs que les popsicles aux bines de l'autre fois.<br><br>A Chengde il n'y ...

... been a while!) and were more than glad that we made the effort. Puning temple, outside the palace walls, was a rather unimpressive construction from the outside, but houses a 22m high Buddah, the largest of its kind in the world (whatever that means), intricately carved from a beautiful wood that retains a lustrous sheen almost glowing with radiance. Called the thousand armed Buddah (Guanyin) it has actually only 42, but hey, who's counting. Ouside ...

... If you only could visit one temple in Chengde, this is it. This is an active temple, which means you could see few pilgrims. Passing through an otherwise a generic temple and climb small hills, you will enter another building sheltering the Guanyin herself. Another temple fee, which included torchlight, I climbed the narrow stairs all the way to the second level (which is only up to the body of the Goddess). The statue is impressive and ...

... without a hitch (once i got on the train i'm not sure what could have really gone wrong but oh well i was thrilled to be back in the city.) Then I had my cabbie call the hotel to get the Chinese name of where I was spending the night (i really need to figure out if there is a way to get Chinese addresses on Expidia.com because i keep booking with them forgetting that i'll need to call the hotel for the Chinese name.) Got to the hotel and checked in once again hitch less. At this ...

Today we went on a little weekend trip with ECCS to Chengde, the Imperial Summer Retreat. On the way we stopped at the Great Wall at JingShanLing. Just before we left the bus I checked if I had brought the extra batteries, which I had, but what I should have checked was if I ...

We've just got into our hotel, and Noa the tour manager has looked after us, she's got us upgraded to a suite, which is Very Nice. We've got internet access again, so I've uploaded the diary, but I'll have to do the pictures later, we're off in a couple of minutes for lunch, and then a massage, I can't wait, as I'm feeling the walk along the great wall today, and sniffling as if I'm starting with a cold. Amyxx