little girl praying at a Buddhist shrine

With blue skies and sunshine, Saturday was a perfect day for a day trip on the outskirts of Beijing. It took a one hour trip on the subway (all the way to an end station) and a short cab ride to get to 八大处公园 Badachu Park. The name means "eight great sites" and specifically refers to eight Buddhist temples, monasteries, and nunneries located in the surrounding hills. It's a major site for Chinese worshippers, and for people who just want to hike up the mountain. The less physically able can take a ski lift up the mountain but we did it backwards and took the lift down the mountain as a reward for walking all the way to the top.

It was unbelievably nice to get away from the noise and confusion of the city for a day. A few more pictures are posted here.