Losing My Breath (A Weekend in ShiDu, Part 1)

Shidu is located in the middle-upper stream of the Juma and Dashi rivers, 100 kilometers from central Beijing.

on our way to ShiDu

ShiDu (ten crossings) was named after the ten ferry crossings that were set up on the ten river bends along the river. There are no ferries that carry passengers now, but there are bamboo rafts that we had fun "driving". It is said to be "the only natural scenic in north China that is characterized by karst rock formations".

SiDu (fourth crossing): those blue thingies that are really
out of place have the Olympic slogan on them

Karst mountains

I joined a tour group with three other friends for a weekend in ShiDu. We left the meeting place near GongZhuFen subway stop at 10 o'clock Saturday morning. The trip took about two hours.

hotel entrance

arriving at our quaint hotel at high noon

Our room has two beds, a black and white television (I thought we had a bad reception but all channels are in black and white, so...), an air conditioner without a remote control, and a shower without a heater (think brain-freeze)...

didn't know black and white TVs still exist...

but the view is worth it all. You can see the Karst mountains just by looking out the window.

Karst mountain backdrop

a moon door with a square door

We had lunch - I'm not sure what we ate, rested a bit, then went to the nearby river to try the bamboo rafts. It was fun. The air was cool so I forgot about the sun and that I am wearing a shirt, so I ended up with an uneven tan. It looked like a I am wearing a permanent shirt. (Oh well, I'll lose it in winter...)

training early...

a family-sized raft

raft fights

We barbecued chicken wings and mantou (chinese steamed bun made of milled wheat) for dinner. Some of the people from the group also had garlic barbecue (which was kind of weird). While we are eating, people from some other place were setting off fireworks.

kanya-kanyang ihaw!

spectacular fireworks

After dinner, we have to choose between karaoke and bonfire by the river. Since songs generally don't like me and all the characters are in Chinese, we opted to go with the others to the river, but then they had to play a game wherein losers have to sing... We ended up going back to our room and sleeping the night away.

bonfire by the river

to be continued...