Tianmen Shan

Day 2 (what was to be day 3 of the Zhangjiajie portion of the trip) was a trip up to Tianmen Shan.  We were once again not blessed with sun, but on this day also socked into the fog.  Bad luck.  But it was beautiful nonetheless.  We got a taste of it.....

A visit to Tianmen Shan starts with a 35 minute cable car ride. You read that right....35 minutes.

Most of it like this.  I've ridden in many a cable car in my life.  This was spectacular!!

At the top is a cliffside walk, which takes you around a good portion of the mountain.

Clouds.......we could see a hint of the valley, peaks and greenery below.  But it never cleared.

Tianmen Shan recently replaced one part of its walkway with a glass floored walkway.  It was fantastic!!

We're not done yet.  The cable car has mid-mountain station which is the way to view Tianmen Shan's most famous feature.

A drive up this crazy winding road to see....

The hole in the mountain.

A last look at the Tianmen Shan region.  The clouds and fog....

Wulingyuan

After six days in Beijing, it was time for Mom, Dad and I to hit to road!  First stop, was down to Northwest Hunan province to visit the famed Zhangjiajie region, and most specifically Wulingyuan National Park.  But every trip has its hiccups and ours came right out of the shoot. We had a direct flight at 640AM from Beijing to Zhangjiajie.  When we got to the airport, I didn't see the flight on the board.  I started to get worried thinking that it wasn't a good sign.  My suspicions were right.  The flight was cancelled. (I now am very familiar with the words 撤销）After some scrambling, we managed to get on a flight to Changsha (the capital of Hunan) but then had a 10 hour layover before our flight to Zhangjiajie. I called our guide and he arranged for us to be picked up in Changsha, taken to the bus station and then rode a bus for four hours and arrived at Zhangjiajie that afternoon. Mom and Dad were troopers!!

Wulingyuan, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Even though it wasn't sunny, in the morning we got to see the pinnacles and peaks amongst the low clouds.

This elevator takes visitors to the top level of the peaks and there is a path so one can look down into the valley.

This picture does NOT convey the scale or the height from which the picture was taken. I am looking straight down.

Funny story.  Both of Dad's camera batteries died.  So he hijacked my camera and stuck his memory card in it to use for the rest of the day.

So I've heard of this practice of having little fish eat the dead skin off your feet.  Here it is!

We ended the day with a walk along the valley floor to look up at the peaks.  It was great to be able to try and imagine what it would be like to live in this area and look up at these every day.

The Best 200 RMB I've Spent in China

200RMB is just about $33 US.  I originally knew I was getting ripped off for this used bike, but it has paid for itself 50 times over this year.  Beijing is flat as a pancake and this bike gets me to the pool, to the subway station, to the grocery store, etc.  It's a junker but I've put some money into it.  I got the BIG basket and had the chain replaced and new tires put on.  The previous owner spray painted some funky colors on it as you can see and the seat has gold thread in it.  That's how I spot my bike when it's parked amongst a sea of bikes.  I've grown immensely attached to this bike, moreso than any car I've owned, except for the Ford LTD station wagon, aka Lucinda.  I think its time to name my bike.

Chengde

Mom and Dad have arrived in CHINA!!!  I picked them up at the airport on the 30th of May, a Thursday and where did we eat?  Those of you who have visited know that the first place to go is the noodle/dumpling/bbq street food stand near my house.  The next morning, we were on an early train to the town of Chengde, which is about 150 miles northeast of Beijing?  Why go to Chengde? Glad you asked. 

The Qing Dynasty Emperors were Manchus from Northeastern China. In the early 1700's Emperor Kangxi wanted to escape the heat of Beijing (who doesn't) and built his equivalent of the US President's Camp David up here in the mountains of Chengde.  He called his retreat "Bishu Shanzhuang" which translates to "Beat the Summer Heat Mountain Retreat."  Over the next century the retreat added a hunting ground and became the place where the emperors met with the representatives of foreign countries and of threatening tribes.

First stop, a temple high above the city of Chengde.

The name of which I forget, but the significance of this photo?  The first time my father has ever taking a picture on an iPhone.

Chengde

The main palace at Bishu Shanzhuang is laid out in the typical Chinese courtyard style.  The one difference is the natural woods and the lack of bright colors.  It really does look and feel like a "cabin" in the woods.

Important events happened here.....the great Qing Emperors built this summer retreat, but the last Qing Emperors bore witness to China's humiliation.

The grounds just below the palace have a beautiful lake!  I'm surprised to have this picture in my camera that has no boats or people in it.  The lake was packed when we were there.

The Misty Rain Tower

Yongyousi Pagoda

The bulk of the grounds of the retreat were rolling mountains and hills.  Here at the north end is a wall marking the borders of the retreat.  My only disappointment was that we didn't have time to go to this area because.....

We missed the view looking down on Putuozhongcheng Temple, which you can kind of tell looks like the Potala Palace in Lhasa?  Why?  So it turns out the emperors built this (and eight other surrounding temples) in the style of visitors to make them feel at ease...and in the case of Putuozhongcheng, Tibetans.

Puning Temple.  Like many temples in Chengde, this one has both Chinese and Tibetan styles.

You can see the Chinese style on the right and in the background, going up the hill, it starts to look Tibetan.

You see that tall building in back?  It's called Mahayana Hall.

Inside it holds Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of Mercy.  She is the largest wooden structure of its kind in the world.  She has 42 arms!

To get a sense of how tall Guanyin is, this is what you see if you are at ground level and look forward without tilting your head.

Why no pictures of Mom and Dad?  Well, Dad's taking all the pictures.  He's doing well with the cane and walking faster than I expected.  But stairs like this wear him out fast.

And one of the highlights was a ski lift ride to the base of Sledgehammer Rock.

Yeah, you see what I see!

I had to...

And just south of the ski lift is Pule Temple. It looks like the Temple of Heaven on top with a square Tibetan base with stupas in the corner!