I decided that before I disappeared off to the south of China for my travels with Siqi, I would make a final visit to the Great Wall and go for another trek from Jinshanling (金山岭) to Simatai (司马台). Conveniently, Ajun, our friend from Hong Kong had not yet been out to the wilder parts of the Great Wall and decided to come along with me and Siqi too.

Once again, we took the train to Gubeikou (古北口) in Hebei province and stayed at our favourite homestay there where we were warmly welcomed (the food was delicious). We got an early start to a slightly misty day and took a minibus out to Jinshanling where we bought our tickets.

As the day went on, the sun got hotter and hotter and finally burnt through the cloud leaving us with beautiful views along the “spine” that makes up the Great Wall of China. Luckily, there are plenty of locals en-route who had hiked up there during the early hours with big crates full of ice cold refreshments – which you had to barter for. We eventually made it to Simatai but this time did not have enough time to do the full climb up to the top, instead taking the zipwire down to where the cable car is and catching a bus back to Beijing.

Despite this being my third visit out to Gubeikou and that particular section of the wall, I’m showing no signs of getting fed up of it – in fact, I’m already looking forward to my next trip! This little excursion is very practical for anybody living in Beijing – it takes three or four hours to get to Gubeikou, there is plenty of time to walk and take photos on the Great Wall and the accommodation is very affordable. Here’s a quick (rough) budget:

• Train out to Gubeikou – 15 yuan
• One night’s accommodation with evening meal – 30 yuan
• Minibus to the great wall – 45 yuan for the bus
• Jinshanling Great Wall Ticket (no discount) – 50 yuan
• Drinks on the wall – 5 Yuan for bottled ice tea
• Simatai Great Wall Ticket – 40 yuan adult, 20 yuan student
• Zipline – 40 yuan
• Transport back to Beijing – 20 yuan (no travel card), 11 yuan (travel card), 8 yuan (student travel card)

All in all, for students, you could be looking at paying less than 250 yuan for a weekend away in the chinese countryside!

entertainment for the road

kitchen and water pump

time to eat

toothbrush monster

brain tofu

my favourite cat

still a kid really

monkey boy

scared

stretch

hiding from the sun

bumpy road

time for a rest

not walking any further

holding up the arch

fortified wall

hold on tight

rough road

steep climb up

on a mission

yuanyang window

not going anywhere

very steep

perfect place for a handstand

stop taking pictures dammit

long way down

scared stiff

up above the world so high

what's on the other side

come a long way

arabian ajun

lush greenery

smiley face

two grannies on the wall

weaving through the workers

refurbishing the wall

dandelion clock 1

rocky road on

overgrown section of the wall

before the wall

across to simatai

you've gotta pay to cross

the three musketeers

simatai great wall

ropeway

yippee

middle of nowhere

girls on the ropeway 25

tangled up

boat to the town

simatai

The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven (天坛) is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in southeastern urban Beijing, in Xuanwu District. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. It is regarded as a Taoist temple, although Chinese Heaven worship, especially by the reigning monarch of the day, pre-dates Taoism.

After almost two years in China, I decided to get myself over to the Temple of Heaven and pay a visit to this magnificent building before I head back home in August. We had some fine weather for taking pictures and it was well worth the entrance ticket – even if they didn’t have student discount!

Tiling

Intricate Tiles

Temple of Heaven

Leaning Temple of Heaven

Hey

Breeze

Before the Temple

Temple of Heaven

Blue Sky Day

晒

Siqi Looking Tall

Round and Round

Up we go

Fine Day

View from a distance

Holding up the temple

One Handed

Beacon Boy

Mini Temple

View all the way up

陶然亭公园

Pagoda

From “Visit Miyun“:

Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park extends over 2208 acres of land in the western part of Miyun. The main peak is 1414m high and the forest is lush with abundant plants and wildlife.

Last week I was out and about quite a lot until the weather deteriorated towards the weekend. On Sunday I decided to go walkies and ended up getting a long distance bus to Yunmeng Mountain ((云蒙山)) in Miyun District (密云) – which is a lovely scenic rural region to the north of Beijing. The mountain is over 1400m in height, amongst the highest of the mountains surrounding Beijing. Despite much lack of exercise recently, I still managed to stride up to the top despite the hot sun beating down and covered what should have been a three hour route in just an hour and a half – obviously my lungs haven’t been completely smogged out yet.

On top, I ran into some Chinese students who had just finished their exams and were also out for the day. We chatted for a while and in the end I walked down the mountain together with them. It turned out that they were local to the area and one of them had a house just by the entrance to the park. They invited me over for lunch and we all enjoyed an assortment of homely Chinese dishes along with some ice-cool beverages. It was lovely to meet such hospitable people and I think they also enjoyed chatting to a foreigner as most tourists don’t like to venture that far out of Beijing.

Motorway all the way

The Peak

Knackered

At the summit

Made it

Some students I met

Tricycle Ride

Out for a ride

Me and Zhou

Local Farm

Delicious Lunch

The Tanzhe Temple (Chinese: 潭柘寺; pinyin: Tán Zhè Sì; literally “Temple of Pool and Zhe Tree”) is a Buddhist temple situated in the Western Hills, a mountainous area in western Beijing. It is one of the oldest and most well-known temples in Beijing. At one time, it was one of the most important temples in the nation. Built in the Jin Dynasty (265–420), it has an age of around 1,700 years.

The temple itself is situated within the Western Hills in a lovely woodland area and it was nice to find a calm tourist spot with relatively few noisy tour groups visiting each day. Surprisingly for a Chinese tourist attraction, most signs were also translated into Japanese, English and Korean and the ticket price for the attraction was very reasonable (£2.20 for students). I spent the morning wandering around taking some photos and breathing in the incessant perfume of burning incense. It’s lovely to escape from the chaos of Beijing, even if it’s just for a few hours. There is something very atmospheric and ancient about this place – some of the trees were over a thousand years old and many of the buildings had been around for a similar amount of time.

潭柘寺

福海殊轮

Ancient Tree

Nice Roofing

Reaching Upwards

Rooftop Guardians

Coiled Incense

Lovely Setting

Turtle Mania

You heard...

Tiger Head Water Feature

Water Spout

View from the top

Dragon Pool

Badachu (八大处) means the “Eight Great Sites” and refers to the eight Buddhist temples and monasteries scattered across the Cuiwei, Pingpo, and Lushi hills in the Shijingshan District, at the foot of Beijing’s Western Hills Scenic Area. Located along the outskirts of Beijing, it was restored during the 1980s and has since become a famous tourist destination.

Enough of an introduction. What with Siqi busy in preparation for her finals this June and the fine weather we’ve been having, it was about time I got out the house and made some little day trips of my own. Things kicked off last week with a trip to Badachu Park on a scorching summers day (37 C). It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and I was surprised to see that there were so few Chinese tourists visiting this beautiful park. The whole loop around all eight “Great Sites” took me three or four hours and was hard work under the glaring sun. Still, managed to get some nice snaps and some good exercise. Definitely worth a visit.

That’s it for now, it’s been chucking it down over the last couple of days and there are forecasts for more rain tomorrow so my Beijing adventures must be postponed momentarily – which at least gives me some time to put some photos up and get some blog entries written. Maybe time to get the guidebook out again and seek some more inspiration, sure I can get somewhere a bit further afield on Wednesday!

I’ll leave you with some more photos…

Sun was beating down

Climbing Up

Golden Elephant

Wonky?

Nice Pagoda

Pagoda

Nice Roofing

View out over the park

Path with a view

View out over Beijing

Self Portrait

Scorched

For the lazy

Jingshan Park is situated just north of the forbidden city and is a must-visit on a “Blue Sky Day” if you want a commanding view over the entire city (well most of it anyway). There is a very strong Chinese feeling about the place – what with all the Chinese grannies and grandads gathering there to sing, play music and dance… or simply out for an afternoon stroll with their grandchildren.

After that there was a necessary bus trip to be made to Xinjiekou (新街口) where we had a super spicy Sichuan meal in our favourite little restaurant before retiring to the little tressle tables and chairs outside for a sample of some of the finest Xinjiang kebabs in Beijing.

Grand Day Out… This is the way things should be!

成都小吃

North Gate, Forbidden City

Beside the moat

晒

North of Forbidden City

Gate of Forbidden City

Forbidden City Behind

Before the Forbidden City

Forbidden City from Above

Forbidden City Behind

Blue Sky Day

Superb Sky

Magpie in front of Beihai Park

Walk in the park

Looking out over Beijing

Sunbathing

景山 Park

Kebab Eater

馋～

Kebab Time

Xinjiang Restaurant

膀爷 Beijinger

Anway, to let off the steam me and Siqi and Ajun headed out to a nice restaurant where you can sit outside and enjoy some great food along with a nice cool beer. My studies in Beijing have in some ways reached a climax now… it’s downhill now right through to September when I pick up my studies at Leeds once again. So I might as well enjoy myself for the time being!

情侣？

感情深... 一口闷

"我不喝酒"

肉串狂

大排档

酒鬼

香死了

吃光了

It was strange to spend yet another birthday here in China – in the end I took some friends out for a meal and then for some Karaoke later on. There are some interesting cultural differences with regards to birthdays over here…

Whilst in the UK it is often the birthday boy/girl who gets treated to a free meal, free drinks and is generally looked after for the evening, in China things are quite the opposite. Not only did I have to pay for all the food and drinks (there were ten of us, lucky food is cheap over here!) but it was also my responsibility to fuss over my guests during the evening, making sure their drinks are poured and that they have had enough to eat! Certainly a change from the drunkenness of the average 21st birthday bash back at home.

I guess that the Chinese see birthdays as an opportunity to thank friends for being there and give something back – whilst in the west it’s our friends who celebrate us being there and make sure we have a good night. Another thing to note however is that in China, the more money you have, the more friends you can afford to invite along and the fancier a birthday party you can throw – some invitees are not necessarily there for your birthday but just for the great food and entertainment (a bit like weddings maybe?). In the UK, it doesn’t matter how much money you have, normally only your closest friends go out with you on your birthday and maybe it’s more of a genuine experience.

Anyway, the food was excellent, we ordered far too much and still managed to eat it all. After slackening our belts, we headed to the KTV (Private Karaoke Club) nearby where we sang until the early hours of the morning to a mixture of Chinese and Western pop music. Photos below!

Nice Presentation

The Round Table

Plenty of Dishes

Ajun and Siqi Singing

Karaoke

The Girls

Subtitles and all

Xinlong

Xinlong and Duyong

Duyong and Ajun

Me and Sandy

Hong Kong and Macao Girls

Birthday Hotpot

Me, Siqi and Ajun headed over to Nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷) a few weeks ago to pay a visit to a nice little restaurant there that does some delicious fish dishes.

You get to choose your fish in the restaurant (all alive and swimming in tanks) and are charged according to the fishes weight. They then first roast the fish in some seasoning before placing it in a spicy oily hotpot sauce and adding any extra things you ordered (vegetables, tofu, meats etc) and putting the whole lot in a candle-heated hotpot dish to serve.

It was slightly more pricey than our average meal but it tasted great!

As I have recently been revising for my HSK exam, I didn’t get round to sorting out my pictures from Sichuan and putting them online until today. You can view the pictures on Flickr.

It was a great trip and I got to know lots and lots of new people. After we got back from Sichuan we had a reunion at the University Restaurant (very posh, usually reserved for teachers and VIPs) where we shared photos together and enjoyed a lovely meal. I also invited some of the volunteers as well as Mr. Du and a couple of the journalists along to my Birthday party where we sang some Chinese karaoke together. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more get togethers in the future too!