More stairs and a view down.
Stretchin' out before the long climb.
The easy part
Getting a little worn out.
Getting tough....the stairs go on an on. They hardly level out. We chose to visit on the day with a lot of fog, but nonethless there are good views of the city. The hike is sevral miles straight up.
A pagoda, very early on in the hike.
PAPA JOHN'S for birthday breakfast!!!!!
Maggie and I once we finally reached Fragrant Hills park. (Our first cab driver was sketchy so we dumped him and got a second. But he let us out at the hotel not the park. However the was a really nice door man at the really nice hotel who personally walked us to the front gates of the park! We were very happy to have made it there!
Here is the park, which is more of a mountain...There was a lot of mist but you can kind of see the highest point if you look way off into the distance at the top. That was what we decided to climb.
PAPA JOHN'S for birthday breakfast!!!!!Maggie and I once we finally reached Fragrant Hills park. (Our first cab driver was sketchy so we dumped him and got a second. But he let us out at the hotel not the park. However the was a really nice door man at the really nice hotel who personally walked us to the front gates of the park! We were very happy to have made it there!Here is the park, which is more of a mountain...There was a lot of mist but you can kind of see the highest point if you look way off into the distance at the top. That was what we decided to climb.
By popular demand...OUR HOTEL ROOM!!!
Our beds.....
my bed!!!
The bathroom.....
In the greenhouse maggie's glamour shot. (thanks to the mist)
The Chinese really do like their plants....so much so that they like to inscribe characters on all of them....this was one of the many receiving plants.
They also really like to bond with nature....A LOT! These women were climbing through the exhibits! Every ten feet they would scramble through the exhibit to find the next best place for a photo op, I'd say they left with over 400 pictures!
Yes even children like to become a part of the exhibits, never you my the rare fauna you are crushing.
This Maggie spotted, on top of that hill there is a VIDEO CAMERA!!!
Here's the close up!
Feeding the animals.
Orchids. Lots and lots of them.
My glamour shot.
The Botanical Gardens.............Come on!!!!!!!!
A very well manicured place...only thing is that people were taking jugs of supposidly "Spring Water" to drink...however just up stream in the pool pictured everyone is hacking up their best luggies... someone might want to warm the fellow drinkers below....
Maggie and I kept running into trial heads that were marked in characters, we thought we'd try one that at least had the words "admittance"
Turns out it is "No admittance" and as Maggie thank goodness realized, all the boulders are held up by sticks....in this picture we are about as big as the sticks. We quickly turned around...nothing like a mother hearing killed by a massive boulder in China.
Snapping a picture of the only tree in blossom.
Little girl at the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace, which was in a bit of a drought....thats a boat you see in the middle.
Yes a little dry......
Hmmm....think they have it a bit wrong.......
Lots of people were flying kites, some of them are up further than high-rise apartment buildings.
Good impression Maggie...should have used that expression on our cab driver who ripped up off getting back from the summer palace.
If Bei Hai park were in the U.S. it would be getting sued almost every minute. It has the most rugged terrain of a tourist park that I have ever seen. None the less it gave beautiful views. Maggie and I were almost launched off this cliff after an elderly Chinese woman shoved us.
Paint work....
Pagoda
Set of steps to the top of Bei Hai.
Maggie and I at the top.
Me in Bei Hai park in front of jade urn.
The entrance at Bei Hai Park, the only green space in Beijing and you have to pay 15 yuan to get in...so much for a communist country.
Stairs carved out of rock in the same park.
The Boats in Bei Hai which I plan to take out when it gets nice.
Maggie refueling with a cookie.
