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Published: October 15th 2009
We started our day off right: we all had a delicious McDonald's breakfast. Now, this may seem a bit unhealthy, and even a bit odd since we're in the land of Cantonese cuisine, but pancakes for the first time in months was the best thing to kick off a vacation... half-way through.
The bus ride to Dinghu Mountain was about 30-40 minutes and took us far outside the city. We arrived at the next town over and had to walk through it before reaching the park. We opted to pay Y15 each for bus tickets around the park and were so glad we did. The distances our buses drove us--steeply uphill--made us extremely grateful for airconditioning. The day was hot and sunny with little breeze.
At the first stop (Baoding Garden) we saw many replicas of dings and the World's Largest Ding--it had to be two stories tall since we could walk under it! All around us people were trying to throw bouncy-superballs wrapped in red cloth into the ding. I presume it was for good luck. For Y20 I wasn't about to find out. Many people had no luck with their aim and instead there were a
few times I felt the need to run for cover. There were also a replica of a bell and some statues.
At the end of Baoding Garden was an overlook down to Ding Lake. In the middle of the lake was a small island with a butterfly preserve. In the clear blue-green water, almost jewel-like, were wooden boats ferrying people across. Tree-filled mountains surrounded the area giving a serene and postcard feel to the area.
We walked down and took a wooden boat across with about 10 other people. In the butterfly reserve there were more butterflies than I've ever seen! Most of them were small, but all were very energetic. I shot a video of a swarm of them flapping their thin wings in a flower patch. Though the video doesn't capture it, they sparkled in the sunlight like diamonds.
One butterfly landed on my food and tickled me while it walked all over my foot and shoe. I managed to stay still long enough to take quite a few photos and a short video before it flew away.
After the butterflies, we ended up hiking off the island. (There was no mention
Me next to the Nine Dragon Vessel
"Me next to the Ding" sounds funny.of this hike anywhere in anything I had read.) We took a bridge across the lake and climbed many, many stairs back up the mountain. And then we climbed more stairs. En route we saw a few waterfalls, streams, and many different types of trees. Along the trail, at the top, we even saw a few fire hydrants--I had no idea they grew here!
For the next part of our journey through the park we encountered a monastery. It had over 100 buildings and was built during the Ming Dynasty. It housed many gold arhats, gold Buddhas, and a thousand person rice bowl. The architecture was unlike any I'd ever seen in a temple and I really found it interesting. the roofs had detailed carvings and vibrant paintings. The rooms flowed in and out of one another rather than feeling like a gigantic maze.
On the way out (there was only one way you could walk through the monastery) we passed the place where Sun YatSen visited and "took the waters" in the 1920s.
We ate a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Friendship. It sounded friendly. We're pretty sure they made a mistake--what was
supposed to be Kung Pao Chicken didn't look like chicken. Abby, who is a chef, is pretty sure they gave us alligator instead. Luckily, they only charged us for chicken. We also had curried seafood, eggplant, and and ice cream sundae extravaganza for dessert.
We rolled out of the restaurant, too tired and too full to move any differently.
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