Trip to Chengde

This weekend we went to Chengde, the site of the Emporers' summer resort and 8 temples. Our first tour was at the Puning Temple (Temple of Universal Peace) and the second tour was at Xumifushou Temple (Temple of Sumeru Happiness and Longevity). Other than the rain, it was a great tour- and in some ways it made the tour a little more interesting- especially our ride on an open air van through the mountains. After lunch we headed to the Summer Palace, which was the Mountain Resort for the Emporers. It's about a 4 hour drive from Beijing, and when it was actually used it would take a week for the Emporer to be carried the distance. Later in the day we saw a live demonstration of traditional paper cutting, and then headed to a traditional Mongolian performance. The third day was reserved for our hike along the Great Wall. We went to a section called Jinshanling, which is mostly restored. It was amazing (the views and the wall) and our walk was tiring but worth it of course. Photos don't really do justice.