Day 23 10-5

It's the Golden Week, a 1 week holiday in China. We figured that we should use this opportunity to go outside Beijing and explore villages at the outskirts. For today, we decided to go to 爨底下, a village 90km north-west of Beijing.  It has a history of 400 years during the Ming Dynasty. At that time, ancestors of this hamlet migrated from Shan Xi, a province is the west of Beijing, to this place. It is a stronghold in the way from Beijing to Shan Xi.

We set off at 5am from our dormitory. We needed to take the subway to Pingguoyuan Station, before taking a 1.5hour bus ride to the village. During the bus journey, it was scenic. We went through valleys and along hills accompanied by rivers. With the hustle & bustle of Beijing's metropolitan, being able to see such nature is beautiful especially since we can't see this in Singapore.

Upon reaching there, we were greeted with a signboard explaining the brief history of the village.

The character "爨", which means "kitchen range"

We hiked the short routes for a short while, going through small alleys of the village at the same time. We also went through the hills. The food at this village is quite similar, brining a unique flavour. They were delicious.

The food were cooked outdoor, bringing an aroma which tingled our taste buds

We then made our way to the highest point. We took about 45 minutes to ascend. Although the terrain wasn't perfect and well maintained, it adds to the experience as it gives us a better feel of how it's like to trek in the woods. Along the way, we snapped some wonderful pictures.

The view of the village

Beautiful mountains basking in the glory of Ian

At the highest point, we met another group of exchange students. Among them were people from Switzerland, Canada, Thailand, and Germany. We had a chat with them for awhile and exchanged contacts. But what we were waiting for was the view. It was simply stunning.

Nothing can beat this view. After capturing these moments at the peak, we felt that the 4 hour journey was totally worth it. We then made our way back to Beijing at 4pm along with the other exchange students, and arrived back at our dormitories at 7.30pm.

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’”
—Sylvia Plath