Fragrant Hills

During Dragon Boat Festival weekend (that's right, there is a holiday dedicated to dragon boats!), Kamala and I, as well as some friends we met here, decided to go to Fragrant Hills park (香山公园 Xiangshan Gongyuan for those of you keeping track).  The park is on the Northwest side of Beijing, and about an hour ride from our house.  Luckily, our friends have a driver, and he was willing to take us.  When we got to the park, the weather was slightly rainy.  This turned out to be great for us, because the park wasn't crowded.  Bill (our friend's driver) told us that this is very unusual, and that the park is traditionally very crowded.  The park is a mountain park, which means it is most popular in the fall, much like West Virginia in the US.  We will probably make a return trip then to see the leaf display. 

When we got to the park, we could chose to go left or right.  We went right first, which led us to Zongjing Monastery.  The monastery was set up with many rooms, much like the Forbidden City.  It also had some very interesting architecture and rock gardens. 

Like most Chinese ruins, there was also a couple of over-sized cats running around. In addition there were also several Buddha buildings.  Sometimes the building had one or two giant Buddhas, and sometimes it was filled with hundreds of "man-sized" Buddhas.  We were not allowed to take pictures of them, so we don't have many (though we do have some). 

Kamala had a hard time remembering we were in a temple…her quote was, you knew I would act silly, so if you didn't want me to act this way, then you shouldn't have brought me…a valid argument.  In any case, there were plenty of people there who took it very seriously.  The monastery area kept winding up, until you got to an open area and saw the main temple.  This was awesome, something straight out of an old Kungfu movie.  Kamala raced to the thousands of stairs where we found the dragon water.  We each drank the dragon water, and consequently became dragon warriors.  In the picture below, you can see us at the top of the temple. 

Shortly after this picture was taken, Kamala and I each jumped off the top of the tower (in the classic kungfu kicking pose).  The best part was the landing.  We each landed with one knee bent to the ground, our backs arched, and one fist punching a crater into the concrete below us.  It was beautiful.  After that, we walked calmly to the other side of the park with our friends.  We then took a ski-lift to the top of the mountain. 

I am very glad we did this, as it turned out to be a very long hike otherwise.  When we got to the top, we took a picture I like to call "Where's Jason".  See If you can find me below. 

On the way up and down people kept saying "hello" to us.  This is funny because people don't speak English… so when they say "hello" its very much like saying, "hey look, an American, hello".  It was fun though. 

When we left the park, we went back into town to catch an antique festival that our friends were interested in seeing.  This was pretty interesting. The festival was a bust, but the antiques were very impressive.  There were some items that would be illegal for us to buy as US citizens.  For example, a dinosaur skeleton, or dinosaur eggs.  As tempted as I was, I don't think I would have got that through customs.  We also came across a lantern that cost over $2M.  Though, judging by its size and intricacy, I would say it is probably worth that much.  Some of the antiques were medieval looking. Including some suits of armor.  If you ever wanted to make a throne room in your house, this would be the place to do it.  They had a one piece solid wood table that could probably seat 40 people.  Honestly, you could probably go bowling on top of this table.  It would be perfect for gathering around and eating turkey legs after ran-sacking the nearest village.  Or, playing a killer game of paper football.  Overall, it was a pretty adventurous day, and one worth blogging about.

JASON