Palace Hotel 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 ...

... 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.

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 ...

... 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!)

... 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.

Xiabancheng, Hebei, China baphometdemon

... a Chicken. Celui qui a le plus de guts passe, et l'autre arrete. Pour intimider l'autre et pouvoir passer tout est bon, le klaxon est evidemment l'arme de choix. Quand on est pieton il faut montrer qu'on est pret a se faire rentrer dedans pour passer et l'auto n'aura d'autre choix que d'arreter.

On a d'ailleurs vu de nombreux accidents depuis notre arrivee, dont un autobus qui a percute la falaise sur le bord de la route. On suppose qu'il ...

... items and each with an eye on them. It also has two lesser, but still large statues next to it that act as her guardians. On the walls around the statue there were thousands of little buddhas in small inlets. They were each about 4 inches tall so you can imagine hown many there were that surrounded a 22 meter high statue. The statue was surrounded by baskets of fruit, which I assume were offerings to Guanyin. We bought a ticket ...

... 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 ...

... knew it we were sitting in a private room in the upstairs of a small restaurant with them and several other ex-pats. They were all English teachers, come from around the world to teach in Chengde, and they welcomed us well. We woke early the next morning in an effort to beat the rush to Bishu Shanzhuang. As it was, we couldn't beat a couple of Chinese tour groups, but soon after the main palace at the entrance, the grounds open up making ...

... de touristes. Par contre, la randonnee est assez fatiguante (surtout en plein soleil), certains passages sont tres raides, et la muraille est construite sur la crete de la montagne, donc n'arrete pas de monter et de descendre. Mais la paysage est magnifique, et en voyant la muraille serpenter a perte de vue, on s'imagine le boulot de titan que ca a du etre pour la batir...

hey guys, the last time i wrote i think i was about to leave beijing for a city northeast called chengde. well i'm there in a internet cafe. we stay in a nearby mongolian yurt resort. now a mongolian yurt isnt supposed to be much more than a tent but in ours we have wall to wall carpeting, a/c, a tv, and most importantly a western style bathroom. its pretty nice although the bathtub/showerhead is quite an adventure. we have classes ...