The Silver Pagodas

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For a month straight I was teaching english classes on both Saturdays and Sundays, knocking out any possibility of taking excursions in and around Beijing. Finally on my first free weekend we hired a van and driver for the day and headed North out of the city and into the mountains surrounding Beijing. We were equipped with a book called 'Hiking around Beijing,' a pocket hikers' manual that was published about six years ago with fifty suggested hiking routes of varying difficulty, each with a cute little hand-drawn map with it. After scrutinizing over every hike in the book, we decided on the hike on page 1: The Silver Mountans Pagoda Park Silver Pagoda Loop.

The hike began in a village at an 300-year-old 'theater stage' adjacent to a secondary school. There are/were no markers for the hike, other than the landmarks given in the hikers' book. We meandered through the small streets of the village until we found ourselves on a gravel road headed up the mountain.

Several times we had to stop at a house and ask for directions. People were very friendly and glad to help. And they always get a chuckle to hear foreigners speak Chinese with them.

The hike brought us up the far side of the mountain, and then descended down to the Silver Pagodas. The Silver Pagoda Temple. The temple date back to the Jin Dynasty ( 1115-1234 AD). Each pagoda was built to commemorate a different Buddhist Monk.

Some photos from the hike.

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Photos

the hike begins
our drop-off point in the village

An old rice press/wheel
I think at some point was used to press/dry rice (and other grains?)

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Summit view
It was a hazy day but for Beijing this is considerably clear skies.

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