Yiyuan Hotel Chengde

... creek running under the middle of it. Further up I found a couple of Buddhas with offerings in front and a little donation box (religions really are all the same). Out of respect (the kind of respect learned by having one too many Chinese yell at me) I didn't take any pictures of the statues, even up here where the were no other people. I guess they've trained me well.<br><br>After our return to the city, we spent much of the rest of the night doing ...

... exactly what you'd expect, and we opted to take the side path (far down, far up again, but not far as the bird flies) to a nearby 'frog' rock. Here I climbed to the top and got some fun pictures, and we climbed through a small hole in the backside of the rock (apparently that allows you to have good knees for the rest of your life).<br><br> Here also, there was an old man selling little red straw ...

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 ...

... aucun restaurant avec menus traduits, ce qui nous a salement complique la vie pour en choisir un. On est tombes sur un resto avec une serveuse bien sympa qui nous a montre un paquet de trucs et a su filtrer entre les langues de porcs et les intestins de veau les trucs qui pouvaient plaire a de dedaigneux etragers tels que nous. On se refugie dans les dumplings comme toujours, ca c'est toujours tres bon. On a aussi pu manger du canard laque bien ...

... s aid, for the first time Matt and I had to eat dinner on our own. With only knowledge of how to saw "beef", we had no idea what we really ordered, but it was another one of those hotpot meals,. Usually there are pictures, but not with this restaurant so we had to kind of guess as we went along. It was a great meal though! I have to say it's really tough to travel when you can't speak and you're basically illiterate. Once ...

... 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.<br><br>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.<br>

... Once i was done at the temple i went back to my hotel to get my stuff and head for the train. Well i tried to get into my room and failed. I went downstairs. It turns out that because i was supposed to be checking out in 40 min my key would not get me into my room... um well they finally let me into my room when i explained that i knew i had to check out but my stuff was still in the room. Well I checked out of my hotel got in a cab and went to the station. I chilled out and ...

... is like 3.50 but it turns out there were 2 kinds of fish right next to each other on the menu. one for 28 and the other was 'market price'. amazingly we did not know the characters for market price so we thought it was 2 kinds of fish for the same price. turns out not so much, our fish was 158 kuai, about 20 bucks, and ridiculously expensive considering we had been eating for 2 dollars tops a piece for dinner. we told everyone we were supposed to but in the end we had no real course of ...

... bike ride, she caught on and suggested we look at the map to find an actual destination. The next day I forced her to wake up early and hurry through breakfast so we could go to the park before our train. At the park I tried to encourage long wanders uphill and off the beaten path. She again caught on to my plan to make her walk forever and took the first down-hill fork she found. We had different vacation styles, but I am still glad she went with me.