Jin Jiang Wen Guan Hotel Chengd Chengde

... directions. The views of the valley were even more beautiful than the falls to me. Further up I ran into a Chinese woman who fancied herself and English speaker and quickly locked me in generic conversation. I did my best to humor her but she ended up thinking I was born in Tianjin, then asking me how I got here (bus or car). I said bike, she said no...

Anyways, past that little sub-adventure, above the falls there was a little stone hut with ...

... all dynasty period buildings lining the north end of the city, the one we visited being the largest of the 7.

The temple we visited is named Putuo Zongcheng. The temple itself was a rising hill of small, gilded buildings and artistic carvings leading up to a massive red temple that reminded me of the castle at Lhasa. Inside the building we spent some time viewing presentations put on by ...

... surrounding countryside, the wall's strategic positioning became evident and it's incredible to think that anyone actually managed to breach this defense. Approaching via the steep, overgrown slopes would be almost impossible and the closely-spaced vantage points above, coupled with the row of arrow slits, should have prevented any attack. But that was Chinggis for you - it's not for nothing that the Mongolian national beer ...

... 20+ story apartment buildings and busy market streets and department stores. Even small towns in China have a way of becoming quite busy and prosperous compared to my quite 'villages' back home in Oregon.

The many family lunches and dinners aside, I'll just list off some of the most memorable experiences and let the soon to be posted pictures do more talking.

The day after ...

... Friday night, it turns out that you CAN have too much of a good thing, and you can definitely have too many noodles and dumplings, especially when served up for breakfast! On the plus side, shrink-wrapped chicken's feet, pig's snouts and shelves and shelves of sausage meat of dubious origin have been available in abundance since we crossed the border. We're really missing proper cheese - they don't really have it here, save for the occasional plastic ...

... before in Putuozongcheng, so I learnt my lesson). There are 27 pavillions on the park, beautifully named by Emperor Qianlong. Whilst it is not grand and overpowering as the Forbidden City, it makes a nice relaxing walk to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

The train to Beijing left Chengde 2:00 PM. I decided to catch a taxi for 10 yuan to the station as walking on a limp leg (from the fall) carrying 15 kg of a bagpack does not seems like a good idea.

Po nekaj dnevih v Pekingu sva se odpravila v nekdanjo poletno rezidenco kitajskih cesarjev, ki je znana po tem, da nudi v casu poletne vrocine bolj znosne temperature. V preteklosti so se cesarji vsako leto vsaj za 3 mesece, v casu ko je bilo v prepovedanem mestu v Pekingu bilo vroce kot na zaru, umaknili v mestece Chengde, kjer so se prepuscali uzitkom lova ter strastem stevilnih konkubin. Ker se sama kmalu odpravljava v ...

Me voici livre a moi-meme, mon voyage commence a partir de Pekin a Chengde ; une ville dans le nord de la Chine. Il y a des vrais sentiers dans les collines qui permettent d'echapper au bruit, aux gens et aux voitures. Les couchers de soleil sont magnifiques et reflettent sur les 8 temples encerclant la ville et un parc avec de la musique et de la danse. Le parc se prepare pour le festival de la ...

... tomorrow we should feel five years younger. In the mean time though I think I'm going to bruise and most of my leg hairs have been pulled out. I did thank her for her time and give her a tip. We have a short time now before dinner and tonight a full nights rest hopefully. With the internet access Amy's put a load more pictures on for you to look at so go back to previous days. None of me being tortured though. Rob

We got up at crack of dawn to get the bus to Jinshaling, a quieter and more spectacular place to view the Great Wall than many of the touristy sites, 2 hours from Chengde. It was hot and humid and the first bits were very steep but it was just as good as we expected - like being in a postcard. The wall is ...