May 09, 2009
Saturday
Authored by JM
We woke up around 9 on Saturday morning for a big hike up the Fragrant Hills mountain park. Before we left, we went to breakfast and met up with a part of the group that was interested in hiking along with us. Originally, we thought we would be able to leave at 10, but we made stops at both the ATM and the coffee shop and ended up getting to the bus stop at about 10:30.
The bus was the most efficient way to get to Fragrant Hills, but was initially very confusing. The first bus we got on was actually headed in the wrong direction and the lady who collects money for the bus just kept screaming at us to get off... She even went as far as slapping a few of us on the arm to get us to understand. Once we got on the correct bus it was a very simple trip. The stop for Fragrant Hills was the last stop, the ride was only about 40 minutes, and it cost 2 yuan, or about 30 cents.
The area around Fragrant Hills was really cool. It was a really scenic mountain village. There were shops open along the way that sold everything from Buddha dolls to food. What I really enjoyed was that the little town was tucked away from the rest of Beijing. It wasn't as touristy as the Forbidden City, which made it more enjoyable. The entrance fee for the park was only 10 yuan and we got unlimited access to all of the different buildings while we were inside.
Once we entered we all proceeded to beginning hiking to the mountain top. There were paths that weaved along the mountain, but we decided to cut across the slope and use the dirt paths. The dirt paths made the hike challenging, but more interesting. We covered a lot of ground by cutting through and were able to reach the upper part of the mountain within 40 mins. The paths merged together and for the rest of the way to the summit there were actual steps going up. Overall, there was over 500 steps before we even got to the summit.
The summit was really cool. From the top of the summit, you could see down towards the city and then around the hills that were near us. It was a nice change being outside the city and the summit definitely made the hike worth it. We also claimed the top of the summit for Michigan.
After enjoying the summit, we basically ran back down the mountain. We were able to move really quickly down and ended up being down the mountain in under an hour. We strolled through the town on the way back toward the bus and some of us bought some small things to bring back. The bus station was a hub for all the buses and we only waited for about 5 minutes before we got back on the bus toward the city. The bus was a little more crowded this time, but it worked out well for us because we were the first ones on, so we were able to secure seats. We got off at the hotel and then decided to head down to the art district.
We took another bus to the art district, which worked out really well. The problem ended up being that we had no idea how to find the art district. We ended up walking the opposite direction first without realizing it. However, we did find a decent place to eat and the neighborhood we were in was really clean and nice. Also, more importantly, the weather got cooler and we all ended up buying matching sweaters. There were about 6 of us all wearing knock-off polo sweaters, which must have looked pretty weird to the Chinese, but was very funny for us. We wandered back the direction we came from and ended up seeing part of the wall from the art district, but never actually got a chance to explore the area.
We took the bus back to the hotel, but the day wasn't over yet. We all showered and changed and headed to this club called GT Banana with the rest of the group. The club was a lot of fun because the floor bounced along with the beat and the atmosphere was really cool. However, we did run into problems because of some of the local guys that were in the club. One of the locals got a little too touchy with one of the girls on the trip and wouldn't leave her alone. This escalated into a shouting match with some pushing and ended with all of us getting bounced out of the club. Both John and I were upset by the whole situation and the way some guys choose to act that ruins it for everyone. The scuffle at the club ended the night and put a close to a long day for all of us.
Posted by jfavorit at May 9, 2009 01:28 AM