Yunshan 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 ...

... park with a big wall around it and a bunch of pagodas in the hills and lakes with islands and bridges passing out to them. Let's just say it's worth the 90rmb per person entrance fee we payed, and we spent most the day walking around only to see a small portion of the resort.<br><br> Leaving on quest for sustenance, we, post-success, traveled to one of Chengde's 7 outlying temples. These temples ...

... created an atmospheric, almost eerie, feel as the wall ascended sharply in front of me and then faded into the clouds, with just ocasional beacon towers looming out of the haze in the distance. It wasn't hard to imagine sentries in these watchtowers, shivering in the winter fog, arrows at the ready as they scanned the horizon for signs of Chinggis and his marauding Mongols. <br><br><br><br><br> Standing in a tower, surveying ...

... of the 'rural China' towns as we passed through. Unfortunately, they were with my cell phone camera since my camera didn't have new batteries yet and so they turned out quite poorly.<br>The county level town of Xiabancheng (aka Chengde County), is built much like Jinghai. By that I mean, it's a small town with relatively few people yet it is very compacted and so the town center is built up ...

... sont beaucoup plus longs; les trains express c'etait juste en Shanghai et Beijing, maintenant ils sont beaucoup trop lents et leur confort est comparable a ce qu'on a vecu en couchette.<br><br>Les autobus, eux, sont quand meme deluxe. Les sieges se baissent et ils ont tous l'air climatisee. Mais pour la question securite, c'est autre chose. Par rapport a ce que j'ai vu avant, les chinois poussent vraiment plus loin la limite de la ...

... punctuated with long tunnels (up to a few km in length) at points where the rock rises an inpenetrable mass before the road. We had our first view of the Great Wall here, snaking its way over the hills ahead of us and into the distance, a small taster of what is to come! Hopefully also will prove more a more enjoyable experience than the Great Wall red wine... Away from the mountains a trainline followed our route and we have been amazed to<br>see ...

... station around 7AM and the journey took around 4 hours. I decided to go on soft seater. The journey was nothing exciting, passing though local town, so bring your ipod, book or if you like me, sleep, eat, sleep, wake up, eat then sleep again.<br><br>Chengde train station is small. It is possible to walk to the main city centre, but I decided to catch the local bus to my hotel, opposite Bishu Sanzhuang. After paying $50 for my newly refurbished ...

... day went to explore the Mountain Resort. There were some palaces, which were nice, but the main attraction was the lake. It was very pretty and surrounded by pagodas and droopy trees. We took a pedalo out on the lake for an hour which was relaxing. We also walked to the north of the park where we saw a very tall temple and also we walked along the perimeter wall, giving us a great view of the surrounding temples and the Sledgehammer rock (see photos). The next day we headed ...

... Public music with people dancing conga style around the streets. Very cool. You had the choice of traditional conga or as some 'youfs' tried, break dancing or body popping - not sure of the difference. The cultural bits were indeed worthwhile: - The town has a Summer Park used by the royal family whilst the Europeans and US invaded Beijing. Amazing parks - photos to come - with motorised boats, 36 temples and its own police ...

... of the Emperor Cheng Long. Unfortunately, the Dali Lama never bothered to come as he'd fled Tibet. Oh well, nice decor anyway. Next was a temple called Puning Temple which we were told had a wooden Budda in that was worth the climb up the many more steps. This time, they were definitely right. This thing was enormous and if the idea was meant to make you fear and respect your god they got it exactly right. It was made out of five types of wood ...