Chengde Imperial Summer Resort - Beijing Day 6

We were the only foreign occupants at the hotel. The rest were Chinese nationals. We were all at the lobby, waiting for breakfast service to commence at 6.30 a.m. When the cafe opened its doors, they rushed inside and made a beeline for the food which was served buffet style.

Heh. We were amused. We sat down at a vacant table, while waiting for them to finish taking the food. Looking at the mounds on their tray, my friend M thought it might be a good idea to queue up too, lest they finished the food and there was no refill. Hehe.

Hmn .... the food was very sad.

The worst breakfast of the week ... 

Hmn ... was it coffee or just water, flavoured with coffee; the drink was so diluted that I could not bear to drink it; a sliced of sausage - it looked rather artificial so I dared not eat more than 1 slice; shredded and salted potatoes (I think! Very salty) ; 2 hard-boiled eggs, white bread with jam, steamed buns with red beans filling, stir-fried cabbage, fried rice.

Together with the Chinese people's bad habit of spitting phlegm at anytime and anywhere, smoking indoors and all that noise, we could hardly stomach our breakfast. I merely nibbled at the food; my friends W and CV went back to their room and ate cup noodles. Lol. I wished I had taken out my Nestum 3-in-1 from my luggage and distributed them to my friends .... sigh ... that would have tasted much better than any of the food served. Together with the Chinese people's bad habit of spitting phlegm at anytime and anywhere, all that noise, smoking indoors and all that noise, we could hardly stomach our breakfast ....

I cleared my tray and waited outside the hotel to enjoy the cool morning weather .... M's eldest brother joined me outside and we chit chatted away ....

At 7.50 a.m., the tour guide arrived, and we set off. There was only 1 item in our itinerary and that was The Imperial Summer Resort, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This attraction was only a short distance away from the hotel. The bus dropped us in front of the main entrance ….. and we strolled through the villa itself.

Approaching the villa ... 

The main entrance, Lizheng Gate 

Again, only the emperor was allowed through this gate  - probably from the centre gate which was bigger than the 2 gates on both sides ...

The signboard written by Emperor Kangxi himself

He wrote one of the characters with an extra stroke - for good luck, I think 

The throne ... 

This was the place the emperor received court

The grounds of the villa was quite cool - because the lush tall trees provided much shade from the sun.

Lovely compound ... 

I believed we only saw a small portion of the villa ….. the living quarters, the furniture still in the room ...

  

Inside one of the rooms ...  

Probably the lounge ...
Xianfeng Emperor died here. He was Empress Dowager Ci Xi's husband ....

There was a section of the villa where Empress Dowager Cixi was said to be residing while she was at the villa ... and inside the building were some exhibits like ornaments, pottery, and so on .... 

 Pertty slippers

We exited this area ... and then we were sold wooden combs, made from Nanmu tree .... it had a fragrance of wood and is supposed to be good for the hair. The promoters were saying that the combs could work wonders on the hair - prevent hair loss, promote hair growth, prevent grey hair. The catch? Press the comb firmly to the scalp and comb 100 times a day. The promoters used Empress Ci Xi as an example, for she was known to have thick, black hair even at the age of 79! 

RMB100 each ... 

Behind me, Singaporean Auntie commented that grey hair was due to stress. Lol. 

Anyway, I firmly believe that if I were to comb my hair for 100 times daily, I would be able to have lustrious hair - regardless of the type of comb used. It's the action of combing that stimulates the scalp and that helps to increase blood circulation to the head and thus nourish the hair roots and promote hair growth.

I needn't spend RMB100 on a comb. I could use any comb. Plus, I knew I wouldn't comb 100 times a day anyway. 

We next went to the Imperial Gardens, just behind the villa ... 

 A stone bearing the name of the villa 

 Lovely trees provided much needed shade against the heat .. 

Lovely lake ....  

Trees lining the walkway ....  

Fangzhulinliu Pavillion, built in 1709

A bridge crossing the waters to get over to the other side ...  

This little islet was said to be the place where the popular drama My Fair Princess or Huanzhu Gege was filmed 

More of the lovely landscaped gardens .... 

So lovely  

Then, we wrote on the electric car (RMB60 per pax) which took us to ... 

Beyond this entrance were a mound of rock .... 

 And beyond that we were asked to see the moon in the water ....

Where? Where? 

Heh ..... 

The reflection was from this little crescent shape hole on the stone ....

After that, we again rode on the electric car to 

Tower of Everlasting Blessing, a 70m pagoda built in 1751

The Emperors used to worship their ancestors and also worship Buddha here ... 

Tibetan prayer wheels on the ground floor of the pagoda 

We could not go up the tower .... too bad .... it would be great to see the view of the villa from the top of the pagoda ...  

A ride on the electric car brought us to this Peony Garden ... 

 Pretty blooms ... 

And a short walk away was Rehe ....

Rehe Spring

Literally translated as Hot River Spring; the water here was said to be at 7 Degrees Celcius all year round, and thus, it never froze. In winter, the surroundings would be covered in snow ... and yet water continued to flow at Rehe .... 

Rehe was the last spot we visited at this huge villa .... we exited and was brought to lunch. We went back to the shop we ate at the night before ...

Lunch
Potato noodles, this time stir-fried with celery. Hmn. I preferred last night's version. This one was overpowered by the taste of celery; Loved the chicken and onions - very lovely with the mantous; chicken and cucumbers; cabbage; mantou, egg omelette, braised pork - while this tasted better than the version served last night, I still didn't fancy this dish; egg-drop soup 

The guide tried to sell us local products - like jujube dates, hawthorn candy and wild almonds. I merely bought a packet of almonds

Baked wild almonds, RMB25 for 250g
The kernels were shorter and flatter and rounder than the normal almonds; crunchy, tasted of almonds - but the flavour wasn't as good of the normal ones that I was used to

Outside the restaurant was a peddlar selling fruits - apples, peaches, cherries .... 

Peach and cherries

1 peach for RMB5 and a handful of cherries for RMB5

Lovely sweet and crunchy peaches, and sweet and sour cherries became our snacks during our long ride back to Beijing 

We said our goodbyes to the guide .... and started 3 hour journey back to Beijing. Apple met up with us at the restaurant to bring us back to Beijing. We reached there late in the afternoon. 

It was a really HOT day in Beijing; there seemed to be a heatwave overnight .... it was oven warm and I was reminded of those days when I went to Changsha, Hunan Province.

We went to the Shichahai area; there were a long row of shops along the lake, sporting international brands like Starbucks as well as local stores selling mostly food and snacks. People could stroll along the lake, buy snacks to eat while admiring the serene waters of the lake.

 The lake 

It was so hot .... and vendors were selling ice-cream everywhere .... and I bought one each for my friends so that we would all cool off from the heat ....

Only RMB1

And it tasted good! Tasted like barley .... sweet and refreshing ... 

We spent about an hour at Shichahai and then it was time for dinner again.

Dinner

My favourite was the braised wongbok cabbage with mushrooms - loved the sweet broth infused with the flavour of the vegetables; braised duck; sliced fish stew, roasted chicken wasn't bad; stir-fried vegetable (spinach?); baby bokchoy; cabbage; soup

Apple signed off from our group after dinner. Yayy! I was happy that I wouldn't need to see her again. I DID NOT LIKE HER AND I DID NOT MAKE IT A SECRET THAT I DID NOT LIKE HER.

Our driver drove us back to our hotel, where we had to check in all over again.

This time, C and I were allocated Room 7303 ... it was a smaller room than the one we had on our previous four nights. But the decor was essentially the same. We unpacked and showered and then we went out to KFC, which was about 10 minutes' walk from the hotel .....

Hmn ... the menu was complicated. No English menu too at that. So I took a long time ordering because I had to ask the waitress verbally; so we were all actually holding up the line. And there was only 1 counter servicing customers that evening ....

At about 8.45 p.m., a lot of food had finished and there wasn't much choice. So I ended up ordering

Chicken wings

Yummy, but tiny .... Loved the chicken wings; Fresh chicken, crispy batter, very flavourful indeed! I couldn't remember the price of the 2 pieces of wings - probably about RMB9, so they weren't cheap.  

I think the chicken was much better compared to ours in Kuching

I also ate a strawberry soft serve, which sold for RMB8; And it was REALLY good - not too sweet, full of flavour and very enjoyable.

Chizza and fries

W bought this .. and I tried a piece of Chizza - which was schitzel with pizza topping; it was alright, but I think I preferred the plain old fried chicken 

We walked back to 7-11 after our supper to buy things that we could bring home ...... I bought 2 packets of pork jerky and a packet of roasted peanuts. C bought pigs' ears again .... she was going to bring it home. Heh.