I am travelling to China in October 08 with a group of 15 friends. Some of us have been, others have not.

We are splitting into 2 groups when we arrive, with most staying in Beijing to see all the usual tourist sights and the rest heading to Chengde for 2 days/1 night.

I am unenthused about Chengde and would like to spend the time on my own in Beijing. What should I do? I've seen all the tourist sights. I am interested in temples and I love markets.

Any ideas? Or should I get behind the Chengde trip?

Thanks,

Lynnie

Chengde has a whole bunch of extremely interesting temples, mostly of Tibetian Buddhism (i.e. Lamaism). If you haven't been, I absolutely think you should go if you're interested in temples and religion.

If shopping and going to the market is more important, then don't go.

It's not shopping that I like, but local markets seeing how people live.

Thanks for the Chengde info.

As suggested above there's a great variety of temple architecture in Chengde, not least because the Qing emperors built temples with hints of minority styles as a way of pleasing or impressing those with who they had alliances or who came to pay tribute. There's one temple that wants to be the Potala Palace, for instance, and another with a copy of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests from the Temple of Heaven.

But of course the local people have to shop and eat, and although a lively night food street that used to run down the centre of town has been done away with, there's a vegetable market that runs east-west across the main north-south artery, with people arriving on fruit-laden tricycles from the countryside. There's a general goods market buried beneath the main square, too, and people selling caged larks in one street.

In short, I don't think you'd be disappointed on either front.

Peter N-H

i think you havn`t been to Cuandixia Village,Tanzhe Temple and Jietai Temple,it is worth to see.The shopping place like Xidan erea,which is local shopping,Tea City,Weekend Market.

You can check out my blog at http://travel.chinafinds.com and search for Beijing, Chengde, etc. while on the site. I have posted summaries of my family and mine experiences from living in Beijing and traveling the city and surrounding areas...(as well as other parts of China and the world)