Silver Pagoda Hike

I picked up my mom from the airport a little after 6am on Saturday. We stopped by my apartment so she could get changed and then we headed down to the Starbucks in Lido. There, we met up with the Beijing Hikers group to go on a hike to the Silver Pagodas. It was only a few hours, but it was a pretty steep hike. The weather was great and the pagodas were interesting to see.

We started our hike by walking through an old village where we saw a few donkeys and lots of old buildings.

After we walked through the village, the hills began to look similar to the neighborhood by my dad's old house. I kept looking for Flying Rock, but we didn't see it.

We did see a this large rock.....or rather, it saw us!

Mom did a great job and kept hiking all the way to the top.

At the top, some Chinese men cheered for her and wanted to take her picture. Here she is getting her picture taken.

This kid also did the hike. Just kidding.

After we got to the top, we hiked down a little ways until we reached the Silver Pagodas. There were five large pagodas. The taller the pagoda, the higher the status of the monk who is buried beneath it.

We ate lunch near the pagodas before walking the rest of the way back to the bus. Because we were a bit early, we had time to do another short walk between two other villages. On this walk, mom found some goats.

After we returned to Beijing, we had dinner with some of our new hiker friends, had showers and later massages, and went to bed early.

Coming soon: Summer Palace, Great Wall, and our trip this coming weekend.

--Sarah & Mom--