Day trip to Chengde

Robina and I visited Chengde for a day trip, together with our Singaporean friends, Sarah and Wei Peng. It is about 300km from Beijing and took almost four hours to reach by car. There was some excitement on the way back when traffic back to Beijing was brought to a standstill by a landslide which closed off the road. Thankfully just when we thought it would be a long, long wait, the road was cleared. Still, we were delayed for about one and half hours.

Chengde was a famous summer resort for the Manchu emperors who stayed there during the summer months. They also visited the resort in autumn to stage their massive hunting expeditions to the steppes in the north. As a result, there are still many imperial palaces, temples and tourists sites in Chengde.