June 3rd – Fragrant Hills

Today, we took our bus for a 40 minute ride north of downtown Beijing to an area that is called “Fragrant Hills”, named after one of the tall hills in the area that is thought to look like an incense burner.

Our first stop was the Fragrant Hills Botanical Garden, where we saw many types of Chinese plants. We especially liked their rose garden.




Next, we set out to climb Fragrant Hill. It was quite a trek! The steep climb to the top usually takes over 2 hours, but motivated by time constraints, some of us made it in only 1 hour! Others of us opted to take the chair lift to the top.



Our final tourist stop was Badachu (“eight great sites”).




This beautiful park is home to 8 different attractions. Perhaps the most famous of which is Ling-guang temple. This Buddhist temple grounds includes several beautiful buildings, and a 13 story pagoda that is said to hold one of Buddha’s teeth!





We finished up the day by going to one of Beijing’s best Hot Pot restaurants. “Hot Pot” is a Chinese cooking style in which each person has their own small stove and cooking pot set up in front of them, and then platters of raw food is set out, and everyone cooks their own dish. It’s like Chinese fondue, and Beijing is very famous for it. Although hesitant at first, it quickly became everyone’s favorite meal.