Kui Fu Yuan Hotel Chengde

After the pair of days spent sightseeing in the city, I had expected a bit of a relief day to come before the end of the vacation and the return to Tianjin. As usual, my expectations were poorly founded, and early on the morning of the 6th, before I knew what hit me, I was on a bike with my gal and a friend of hers from school heading towards a mountain village.<br><br>Biking in itself was an adventure for me, I didn't even like biking when I was a kid ...

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

... 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>

... 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 ...

... taxis, hotels, sites toursitiques, etc. On s'est fait achaler a l'hotel par un staff blase et pas agreable du tout pour mesurer notre temperature avec des thermometres en dessous du bras. Apres 15 minutes de niaisage, ils ont dit que la temperature etait pas bonne et de recommencer. On etait vraiment insatisfaits, on est parti dans un autre hotel qui eux etaient un peu plus serviables.<br><br>On a visite un autre palais imperial d'ete et divers ...

... crowds, we walked along it enjoying great views of the surrounding mountains and temples. The palace buildings at the entrance to the grounds held our attention briefly before we headed out to the open spaces - a complex of wooden structures with original furnishings including ornate thrones, typically Chinese screens, vases, and paintings. <br><br>We followed our visit to the palace with a token temple visit (just for old times sake - it seems to ...

... was spectacular. <br><br>It is possible to walk from Putuozongcheng Temple to some of the other temples. It is 1 km to Xumi Puzhou temple, another massive temple or around 7km to Puning temple. Just be wary of the passing car and bicycle. Or you could just catch a bus to the junction of Puning lu and Huangcheng Beilu and catch bus no 6 to the north of Puning Lu.<br><br>Puning temple of the home of the massive statue ot Guanyin, the Goddess of ...

... open the door. So then i was really on my trip! ^^ Well I got in a cab and told the cabbie where i wanted to go. He took me straight to the station. I arrived with time to spare on the departure of my train. But since it wasn't even six in the morning the entire station was more than a little dead. Well, once we were able to get on the train i did. Then i curled up on my chair and slept on and off for the 4.5 hours it took to get to Chengde by train. Well I arrived at the station in ...

... Yes, this is definitely an adventure. Here is a summary of the trip and some photos for you. Chengde is best known as the summer resort for the Qing dynasty emperors. For those of you who would really like to get a deep understanding please continue on my blog

... own which we were very impressed with and only cost 50 EMB, about £4. We now have a little time to ourselves before we go out again. Amy has gone to sleep in the time it has taken me to complete the first paragraph so pictures will follow later. This evening we are going to a woman who does paper crafts and is apparently world renown so Amy is quite excited. After that it's dinner and off to a Chinese/Tibetan stage show. Should be interesting. Rob