After having been to the Great Wall of China, we hit the road again to visit some of the other places that Ruth had on her list of must-sees (almost all of them were must-sees! 😀 😀 ), such as Chengde Summer Palace and the Mountain Resort, and we made our way to Chengde in Hebei Province.

Recovering at the hostel while Ruth and Noah explore a bit Chengde

We spent three days in the city and I wasn’t in the most amazing health. I think that the pollution in Beijing, the changes in temperature and the physical exercise over the last few days had sapped my energy, so the first day of our visit I had to stay in our hostel room. Because of that, Ruth took Noah out and I spent the whole day relaxing properly without worrying.

In Chengde, many of the bus stops are so unnoticeable that you almost don’t even realize what they are … So if you decide to go somewhere by bus, pay a lot of attention to the adverts – perhaps behind one of them you will find the bus route that you want to take.

Ruth lost more-or-less an hour: first looking for the bus stop, then taking the bus in the wrong direction until she finally realized that none of the Chinese characters she had were the same as the bus stops that they were passing, then all the time it took to catch the bus going the right way, plus traffic … A saga! 🙂 🙂

Chengde Summer Palace and Mountain Resort Scenic Area

On arriving at the Chengde Summer Palace there was a huge line of people, but Ruth bought her ticket and went inside. Ruth had put this place on her list of must-sees because it is the world’s largest existing imperial palace-garden (5,640,000m²). It took three generations of Emperors (from 1703 to 1792) to finish the mountain resort.

Chengde Summer Palace and the Mountain Resort scenic area

Initially, Ruth and Noah visited the residential area where several Qing dynasty Emperors used to live with their court. Everyone crowded against the glass to see the furniture and chairs from times gone by.

From Chengde Summer Palace to the spots of Mountain Resort scenic area

After going through the residential area of Chengde Summer Palace they arrived at the gardens and went by bridges, lakes with pagodas, temples – an indescribable walk, especially in the Golden Hill Island area.

After going through a garden full of roses they arrived at the Temple of Everlasting Blessing, which was used by the ancestors for worshipping Buddha. They also tripped over a friendly but jumpy fox. There are more than 120 groups of buildings scattered among the mountains, water, grass and trees.

They went through an area of traditional Mongolian type tends and arrived at the part of the gardens that Ruth liked the most: a wonderful view of Ruyi Lake with the various buildings in the background … The light from the setting sun gave us a fantastic photo when they amused themselves by taking pictures together – although at the end Noah was rather tired 🙂 🙂

They continued walking and went by a bridge and then by the Mirror of Two Lakes.

At the end of the evening, after a long day at Chengde Summer Palace and the Mountain Resort, the two of them were really exhausted. They got the bus in the right direction this time 🙂 and got back to the hostel to relax … At least my head had stopped hurting by the time they got back so I could sleep better in preparation for our visits to some of the other sites Ruth had planned.