Fragrant Hills

After the call I headed back to our campus to meet TuotuoXP. Leaving at about 11 o'clock yesterday morning, we bicycled along the Qinghe River and the 5th Ring Road on the north of our campus. Riding on such a nice path was really comfortable, enjoying sunshine and breezes.

Fragrant Hills, or Xiangshan, is to the northeast of the Beijing city, most famous for its red smoke tree leaves in late autumn and snow scenery in winter. The trip from the campus was about 12 miles (20 kilometers). We didn't hurry and photoed wherever, so it took us about 2 hours to get there.

After having lunch, we started to climb. The Xianglu Peak was about 1400 feet (400 meters) in height. On the way along we saw quite a lot of old men enjoying climbing. The Fragrant Hills seemed to be a public garden for citizens rather than for tourists. Good! At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon we got to the top of Xianglu Peak. Wow, a birds eye view of Beijing that lies to the east, that's it!

Then we chatted to wait for sunset for about 2 hours. Damn! The battery of my camera soon ran out! And I missed the chance to take photos of the sunset. Remember to charge next time! Luckily, there are far more beautiful photos and a nice blog from TuotuoXP.

After the sun went down, we got down the hill, had our supper and headed back to campus. Mum called to tell me that my pet dog got another four children!

What a nice trip! We're planning to explore here again in late autumn, when leaves turn red or yellow in a colorful world.