Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By bus
Bus #331 heads from outside the
Yuanmingyuan
via the north gate of the Summer
Palace, both of which are also on subway line 4. Bus #360 also heads this way from the zoo.
By taxi
The quickest way here is to get a cab (
￥
30) from Anheqiao North subway (line 4).
You're less likely to be ripped off here, though drivers will still need persuading to use the
meter.
ACCOMMODATION
FragrantHillsHotel
香山饭店
, xiāngshān fàndiàn Close to the main entrance to Xiangshan
Park 010 6259 1166,
xsfd.com
.
This hotel makes a good base for a weekend escape and
some in-depth exploration of the Western Hills. A startlingly incongruous sight, the light, airy
hotel looks like something between a temple and an airport lounge. It was designed by I.M.
Pei, also r
espon
sible for the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, and the
Bank of China
building
at Xidan.
￥
688
Biyun Temple
碧云寺
, bìyún sì • Daily 8am-5pm •
￥
10
Some 400m west of the park's north gate is the superb
Biyun
(“Azure Clouds”)
Temple
, a
striking building dominated by extraordinary conical stupas. Inside, rather bizarrely, a tomb
holds the hat and clothes of
Sun Yatsen
- his body was held here for a while before being
moved in 1924. The giant main hall is now a maze of corridors lined with
arhat
statues, five
hundred in all, and it's a magical place. The benignly smiling golden figures are all different
- some have two heads or sit on animals, one is even pulling his face off - and you may see
monks moving among them and bowing to each.
Badachu
八大处
, bādàchù • Daily 8am-5pm •
￥
10 • Cable car
￥
50, sled
￥
40 • Bus #347 from the zoo, or
￥
25 by taxi
from Pingguoyuan subway (line 1)
A forested hill 10km south of Xiangshan Park,
Badachu
(“Eight Great Sites”) derives its
name from the presence of eight temples here. Fairly small affairs, lying along the path that
curls around the hill, the temples and their surroundings are nonetheless quite attractive, at
least on weekdays; don't visit at weekends when the place is swamped.
At the base of the path is a pagoda holding what's said to be one of
Buddha'steeth
, which
once sat in the fourth temple, about halfway up the hill. The third temple is a nunnery, and is
the most pleasant, with a relaxing teahouse in the courtyard. There's a statue of the rarely de-
picted, boggle-eyed thunder deity inside the main hall. The other temples make good resting
points as you climb up the hill.
Inevitably, there's a
cable car
that you can ride to the top of the hill; you'll see it as you
enter the park's main (north) gate. To descend, there's also a metal
sled
that you can use to
slide down the hill. You'll whizz to the bottom in a minute.
