Chungde Charmed — Marty DeWindt

Probably the most amazing thing about last weekend was that the kids thought they were sleeping in on Monday when they had to get up at 7 a.m. for breakfast. It was with some doubt and gritted teeth that we got up at 5 a.m. two mornings in a row to pack into our bus and head off for Adventures by John. This was StairMaster weekend: Great Wall steps, temple steps, trail steps.

First a note on our bus: it was built for Chinese folks. The leg room is about non-existent. Add to that the fact that there is no luggage storage and we each had to take an overnight bag and you get 4 hours of travel that is a test of patience and ingenuity. Going up to Chengde (pronounced Chun-duh with the accent on the second syllable) was in two two-hour chunks with a long hike to break it up and very sleepy people who had partied the night before so it wasn't too bad. Coming back we did the 4 hours in one shot...sort of - had 3 potty stops...and no gas stations or McDonalds. The kids sang many, many songs on the way back and generally got crazy, but it was a happy crew.

We stopped at the Great Wall at Jinshanling and we were there by 7:30 a.m. The vendors (and they are everywhere!) weren't even set up yet. This is about the most eastern end of the wall. It was a short, but steep walk up to the wall and then many, many steps up to the watch tower. The website group shot was taken by John at one of the first sets of steps. This spot is a long way from Beijing and has no public transportation so it is pretty pristine. However, where there are vendors (T-shirts, quilts, water, Coke, beads) can KFC be far behind? This spot is unlike the places closer to Beijing which have cable cars and loudspeakers and nature sounds - we do one of these later because it is near the Ming tombs. Can't wait.

It is really strange being in a place which you have heard about for so long. It was hard to believe you were there. We did have the place to ourselves and it was quiet and even a little forbidding. The wall is in okay repair but the steps are all of varying heights - some as much as 12 inches. The day was gray which almost added to the feeling for what it must have been like at this outpost. The stones were also all different sizes and it is said that each inch in the wall represented a full day in one man's life. The workers were political prisoners and were buried in the wall when they died. I know the pictures will not capture the feeling of distance as the wall snaked almost in a backwards question mark to the last watchtower we could see to the northeast at Simatai. Though scaling the wall might be possible, the protection was in the distance you can see. Of course, the wall did not keep out the invaders, either the Mongols or the Manchus.

Chengde is a tourist city, but a Chinese tourist city. There were almost no internationals. It is famous for it's Imperial Gardens, which are in a natural valley right in the city. It is more of a park than gardens. Surrounding the Gardens are replicas of temples from all over China. They are huge and are still only about 25% of the original. We saw two Tibetan ones because this will be our only chance to see that type. These are Qing (pronounced Ching) dynasty in the 1600's.

What I will remember that afternoon is the conversation at the top of the first one with a young Chinese man about his country. We all get approached all the time by Chinese wanting to practice English. There are uniformed folks everywhere (private security, police, army) though they are unobtrusive, so it tends to happen in unusual spots. We were way up in the top of the highest tower and he felt free to talk. He was so discouraged about China and the human rights. He felt China had so many problems that he didn't know if they would ever make much progress. Yet when he talked about Guailin where he is from his eyes lit up and he was so proud of the beauty of the region made famous in the scroll paintings. The Li (Lee) River and the sheer mountains and waterfalls and bamboo are all precious to him. America definitely impressed him: US gets stronger and stronger! Yet here he was on a vacation in a tie and sport jacket so he is doing well....

Sunday was another 5 a.m. day with church (Arise, arise and shine...) on Frog Rock looking across at Bat Rock (Banshao). It took us almost an hour to hike there so we were way up there. Now Bat Rock looks like a baseball bat standing on end over 500' tall perched on the edge of a cliff. And, you guessed it, there were more steps over to the bat - steep down and up and then repeat the process to get back. And yes, of course, I did it!

The afternoon was spent in the Imperial Gardens. The two great things were the people (like being at the Missouri Botanical Garden on a Sunday afternoon) and the bells at the pagoda. We saw two cute groups of kids doing some amazing Tae Kwan Do moves in a class; we watched a traditional scroll artist working out in the park; we talked to 6 high school girls that wanted to practice their English; we became part of a parade of elementary kids out for a day in the park; we watched the workmen restoring the royal residential buildings, including the artisan that was doing the intricate colorful detail work in one area. At one spot we came upon a gathering of about 20 people on a porch and we listened to a man playing the traditional two-stringed instrument while a friend sang Chinese opera behind him. One the musician's left was a granny knitting and on his right a man reading the newspaper oblivious to all around him including the two kids playing in front of him.

John and I did hike out to the 8-storied pagoda that is a landmark for the Gardens. The kids were off on their own for the afternoon in the Gardens and were out on the lake in rowboats and paddleboats. The pagoda is at the far end of the park, probably a little less than a mile. The only thing further is the temple at the top of the small mountain in the park and for some reason level ground had more appeal. John and I were the only two there! You just can't believe how amazing that is in China. Here is was 75 degrees, a blue sky, a 400 year old pagoda, in the Imperial Gardens in Chengde, China and we have it all to ourselves. We sat on a bench in the shade soaking up the moment and a soft breeze came up. The octagonal pagoda has 64 large bells and 64 smaller ones - one of ech at each eave. Slowly, the bells began to ring - softly at first. The breeze grew stronger and so did the bells until many of them were ringing. The breeze died slowly away and so did the bells: a surprise private concert just for us. A magical moment. It was a great end to a great weekend.

This is still a wonderful adventure and the kids are a terrific group. John is a delight to work with and we have fun putzing along with our cameras together. Sure wish I had stock in Kodak!