Sightseeing around Beijing: Beijing is not an island in empty spaces. So fascinating this city may be, on the countryside, not so far away, are a lot of Sightseeing-Highlights. Of course, there is the Great Wall of China. The biggest building men ever made. It is not a wall in one piece. The wall is fragmentized in different sections. Some of them have been rebuild during the past 20 years. They are all impressive, but some are harder to climb than others. 3 sections we know by our own. Great Wall Badaling is more or less in the shortest distance to Beijing Downtown. That is why the most tourist groups are driven to this wall section. Mostly they visit the Ming Tombs at the same day. The parking area is in the valley, downhill. The wall is rising from this point straight uphill and it is very exhausting to climb up. For elderly people and people with walking problems, the wall section Mutianyu Great Wall is more comfortable. Here also you have to walk uphill a little bit, but it is really interesting. There are a lot of small shops are along the small road and you can bargain for some souvenirs. There are two possibilities for reaching the wall copping. First you will see the cable railway downhill station with open cabins. A little bit further is
the more comfortable cable railway with closed cabins. The view from the wall copping is wonderful. Mutianyu Great Wall is surrounded with forests. Detour you can use the same way like up ore have some fun. At the open cabin railway cable station is a slipway (Rutschbahn) beginning. The cars are well maintained and the brakes are working also very well. Siamati Great Wall, ca 120 Km north-east from Beijing Downtown is the most beautiful section, cause of the surrounding landscape and high mountains. A well maintained railway cable and a short mountain railway will bring you close to the wall copping. Than follows a short, but intensive, walk about 15 minutes. The view is breath taking and when the sun is shining, don t forget a hat.
Very kind, small little ladies are following each tourist. Everyone has his own guide, wanted or not. Buy some small souvenirs from them. It is the only money they can earn. Someone with a good condition can walk, ca 40 minutes, down the wall. Looks simple, but it is not. The stairs are uneven and steep. A small path along the lake will bring you back to the parking area. Courageous ones can use the flying fox. Fixed in a harness like paragliders have you can fly along a steel rope high over the lake. Than a short boat drive directly to the restaurant and enjoy a cold bottle Tsingtao beer. Shanhaiguan the first pass under Heaven-, in this town the Great Wall of China is diving, after 7000 Km, into the Bohai Sea. The fortress, founded 1644, is also named Old Dragons Head. It is renovated and the exhibitions will give you a very good impression how life was for a soldier in that period of time. Shanhaiguan, ca 350 Km to the east from Beijing Downtown, is a modern city at the Bohai Sea and for its own a Sightseeing-Highlight. Here modern times and tradition are mixed up well. The town is crossed with very old city walls and inside this walls are still living Hutongs. Carful renovation under protection of historical monuments has started. But there are still quarters where the time has stopped 150 years ago.
Shanhaiguan has a very good highway connection to Beijing. The same highway will bring you to Beidaihe, called the Bohai Riviera. This area, ca 250 Km eastern from Beijing Downtown, is one of the most beloved holiday spots for the Beijing people during summertime. Never go to Beidaihe in July, August or September. You will find clean beaches with yellow sand, a lot of fish restaurants and a wonderful beach promenade. In the 50 th of the last century Beidaihe was the refuge from the Chinese political prominents. Today this town is a Russian enclave. With Russian named road signs and Russian restaurants the visitors from Vladivostok area feel like being home. Shanhaiguan and Beidaihe are orientated in a distance from 50 Km. So it is possible to visit both towns in one day. The 3 gorges of the Yangtze River are sinking into the flood, but we have our own gorges. Longquing Xia, ca 100 Km north from Beijing, is a water reservoir with a 190 m high wall. The Rolling-Stairs are the longest system in the world. They are installed inside a dragon and built by a German company.
The water is deep green and crystal clear. Small sightseeing boots driving through the gorge and there are a lot of possibilities to leave them. You can visit a temple, do some Bungee jumping ore sitting at the lakesides and enjoy the time. Who likes can also take the railway cable up to the mountains. Here, on top, is another Buddhist temple with a fantastic view over the lake. Sometimes, when the weather is fine, Beijing can be seen. From seaside to desert. Ca 100 Km north-west Beijing, in mitten the wine fields of Great Wall, is a large, wandering dune. Tianmo is not easy to find but very impressive. Here are camels, quarts, horses and flying yellow sand. It is nice to spend an hour or two, but a whole day we have been in the city of Jiming Yi not so far away.
Jimingyi is a town under protection of historical monuments. Here was Dschingis Kahn s basis station before running to Beijing. In military saying this town was a caravansary. Today you can see a nearly closed adobe city wall, mansions in the traditional Chinese Courtyard manner built with wood and clay. The empress Cixi found hostage in this city while she was fleeing from the Boxeraufstand. Today this courtyard is a private home, but can be visited while paying a little fee. In Jimingyi it is good to use one of these tour guards. They can explain a lot but only in Chinese, so take care for a translator. Not only the town, also the surrounding landscape is something seldom seen.
Water is precious because water is life. But sometimes there must be a catastrophe first before life is possible. In 1517 was a breach in the dyke at Yancun River and the water from 7 rivers flows in the flat farmland. Baiyangdian, swallow White Sea, so the new lakesides are called. Reed, bamboo and cormorant fishers, water birds and hundred kinds of lotus flowers found a new living area. But quietness and silence you only can find in early daytime and late at nights. During daytime the lakes are very noisy. A lot of loud tourist boats and racing boats are bringing visitors to different sightseeing spots. During the last years the water level is ca 2,00 m lower than before. Here, in north-east of China it seldom rains.
Ca 200 km north-east from Beijing Downtown is the City of Chengde. This town was the summer resort for some of the Chinese emperors. Situated in a wonderful landscape, Chengde has a lot sightseeing spots. May be it is a good idea to stay one time overnight. The emperor s summer palace is surrounded with a wonderful garden which includes grasslands and hunting areas. Outside the garden walls are 8 monasteries. Each one is from a different religion. The most beautiful and impressive is the monastery Puning Si. It is the small brother of the Potala palace in Tibet. It is a living complex. Monks are living and praying inside the walls.
The highway to Chengde is not totally finished. A small part of ca 60 Km is missing in the middle. The national road 101 is quite dangerous to drive, but there are good restaurants close to the Miyun Lake area. The served fish is absolutely fresh. The Miyun Lake Area is one of the water reservoirs of Beijing. Although the water level is low the lake has a wide extension. We like being in this countryside, in these mountains between Miyun and Huairou. Only 70 km outside Beijing you enter a different world. There are only few roads, wild living animals, hawks and a great landscape with breathtaking viewpoints. In the deep valleys we found hanging bridges built from timber and robes. We watched a man and his women pulling the plough, to poor to own even a donkey.
We visited Shidu at a rainy summer day. It was like diving in a fairytale country. We have never been in Guilin, but it must look very similar. There is a river in a deep valley, Karst Mountains and also a lot of tourists. The sports are free climbing, bungee jumping, beach volleyball and some water funs. In this chapter I have written about some possibilities for trips to the landscapes around Beijing. There are quite a lot more. You can find other Sightseeing Highlights in: Beijing Excursion Guide,70 Daytrips around Beijing. Immersion Guides, ISBN 7-80202-312-2 2006, sales@immersionguides.com, www.immersionguides.com
Sightseeing in China, but unknown from us: Guilin, Department Guangxi, has a lot of Karst Mountains, rivers, great landscapes with lotus and rice fields. A must will be a riverboat tour on the river Li Jiang. The gorges of the Yangtze River: May be they are not more the same like some years ago, but they will be still impressive. Xian: Chinas first capital town is the home for the world best known army, the terracotta soldiers. Suzhou: very close to Shanghai is famous for the water gardens. This town is also called the Venice of the Eastern World. Ok, much smaller, but it should be very romantic. Because we are in China, it will be a little stinky too. Qingdao: the city of beer. Here this famous Tsindao beer is made. The town is situated at the sea and was till 1910 a German enclave. May be a weekend is more than enough. Pingyao, to go to this town should be like making a time slip more than 200 years back. We read some articles in That s Beijing, surrounded with an old city wall, small streets, Hutong life. I believe, it can be the Chinese Rothenburg ob der Tauber, but not so romantic. Harbin: the City of Ice and Snow. There is only a small time Window to visit the famous festival. Each year it begins ca February 1 st. it is joined with Chinese New Year and so the festival time is different every year. Dear Sr. Perez, these are some possibilities to spend some days in China. May be you have found an idea or another. If you decide to do some trips around Beijing, we will be glad to do them together with you. With best regards And we hope to meet you at my exhibition opening, April 12 th. Sabine Hartmann + Thomas Cornelius