In 2020 I had approximately 12 weeks of summer vacation from June to August but due to COVID-19 travel was off the cards. Luckily the COVID-19 situation wasn’t too bad in Beijing so there were several activities to keep me entertained, such as: the Jing & Tonic variety show; Girl Gone International and Female Expats of Beijing meet ups, rugby training, and Board Games Night. Additionally, I restarted my radio show, Volunteer Stories, further helping me to pass the time.
What’s more, towards the end of the summer I managed to go on a weekend trip outside of Beijing to Chengde. I’d wanted to visit there for over 2 years but had never got the chance. What with COVID-19 I thought going somewhere close by with a tour group was my best option so at the end of August I finally visited Chengde.
The trip was organised by CET and included visiting the following attractions:
• Imperial Summer Palace of Mountain Resort, built between 1703 and 1792.
• Puning Temple, which houses a 24 meters high golden lacquer wood carved Buddha.
• Putuo Zongcheng, built between 1767 and 1771, and modelled after the Potala Palace in Tibet.
• Shuangta Mountain.
The weather, tourist attractions, evening show, and dinner were all great, as were the people on the tour. In fact, I became good friends with several members of the tour group and have since attended events and gone on other trips with them.
Over the next couple of weeks I will blog about my other trips in 2020, including: camping on the Great Wall of China, visiting Wuhan, and going on a rugby tour in the south of China.
Thanks for reading!
Lettice
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