Pipkin and Domo were
in Beijing for just one day before deciding to leave the pollution of the city behind to relax at the Mountain Resort in Chengde, north of Beijing, where the Qing emperors built their escape from the blistering summer heat. This isn't the Great Wall you see here. Pip and Domo are trekking along the 10 km perimeter wall of the Mountain Resort.
The Mountain Resort is a beautiful, large park, noted for its lakes, woods, mountain terrain, and the Eight Outer Temples, built just outside the palace walls. There are three main regions to the park: the Hills, Lakes and Plains. The Hills area of the resort provides views of Chengde from
its walls. In the far distance is the famous Sledgehammer Peak, a rock
in the form of an inverted sledgehammer.
During their visit, they met this Duck from New York, New York, who was
also visiting China. He was not only taking in the sights, but the many
tastes of Chinese cuisine. He loves to eat at new places and takes
photographs of exotic dishes.
In the background, you can see the developed urban area of Chengde.
The Lakes region has peddle boats, bridges, pretty gardens and pagodas. Look carefully in the background of the photo below. Can you make out the Sledgehammer Peak?
A human powered water wheel that scooped up water from the lake and poured out into a trough sits at the edge of one lake. Pipkin thought the sight of a monk with a digital camera playing tourist was quite amusing.
In the next post, Pipkin and Domo continue their visit of the Mountain Resort, and meet a resident of the park.
Too bad someone walked into your Duck picture. :(
ReplyDeleteIt happens, all too often! What can you do in a touristy area in a heavily populated country? I prefer to take my time with photos, so this guerrilla style of get-out-take-a-photo-get-back-in-the-bus of photography doesn't lend itself to the best of pictures. Ah well! It was still a fun trip. I don't want to assume, but are you the Duck's "owner"? Do you have a blog you'd like me to mention?
DeleteBut you still manage to take really good photos! Yes, I was going to say, I could have lent you my photo or you could have taken your time with the Duck.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Well, couldn't use your photo because the point of this blog is to use my own photography, and sadly, we never had enough time when we stopped to take great photos. It was guerrilla style stop and shoot, which was frustrating. But it was still great to meet the Duck. Do you have pictures of him online? He certainly got in a lot of travel last year.
DeleteI'm not sure if I'm creative enough to create stories like you do or ready to dedicate the time to maintain such a blog of him online ... But I do have pictures of him and friends on my travel albums on Facebook ... :)
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