Day 5: climbing a mountain

Another great, but crazy day that started off with us eating bao zi for breakfast and ended with us banging on the shutters of a car mechanic's shop trying to get him to open up and fix the car.

We went to the Fragrant Hills. Wow!! This is, by far, my favourite place in Beijing (and it would be even more spectacular in spring or autumn). The Fragrant Hills are about a one hour drive from Beijing. The highest peak is 557m above ground and has the nickname "Guijilanchou (Devil Frowning Peak)" because of its steepness. It is steep!! We cheated and took the cable car (a 20 minute ride) to the top. Sha was a tad nervous as the ground really was a long way away and we weren't very securely held in. Anyway we got safely to the top (the views are of forested mountains with a few temples dotted around) and then walked all the way back down through the forest!!

At the bottom we decided it was time for food and so we bought some lotus and something really tasty that seemed a bit like an omlette. Then we fed the chickens that were walking around. Then we went to the beautiful botanical gardens to see the lotus exhibition. We also met some of the terracotta warriors that must have escaped from Xi an. Later in the evening we met up with Xiaopeng and then drove to Isabel's house (Sha's cousin) where Xiaopeng explained all about pulsars until they got bored and we went out to dinner. I'm wondering when I'll be able to taste anything again. They told me that Western people could not eat a particular chicken kebab because it was too spicy. I took this as a challenge and ate one!! Wow it was spicy! We then went to the cinema and watched a 3D cartoon, but I have no idea what it was because it was all in Chinese.

After the cinema we came out to find the car didn't work (umm ... the lights had been left on). However, this is China and so we just found the nearest car mechanic and banged on the shutters until a man turned up and he came and jump started the car!