If my memory serves me correctly The Summer Palace in Chengde is four times bigger than that in Beijing. My book tells me it covers 100,000 squares metres. Whereas the Summer Palace in Beijing dominates its surroundings by being bright, colourful with a definite 'look at me' mentality the palace in Chengde is much more simplistic and understated. In fact it blends in beautifully with it's surroundings and makes for an idyllic day long stroll. The main palace buildings (somewhere between 6 -9 in total, I forget the number exactly) are close to the main entrance however there are another 17 - 20 scattered around the grounds. None of the buildings are more than a couple of storeys high. There are even some tame deer to admire whilst you walk around the artifical lakes, paths and buildings in amongst the forest. Needless to say I spent a relaxing four hours wandering around and loved every minute of it. To put it simply if you are visiting Beijing you would an idiot not to make the time to visit Chengde, it is definitely worth it and a complete contrast to busy Beijing.
Chengde also has eight temples unfortunately by the time I arrived here I was completely templed out. Whereas at the start of my trip I could easily spend a couple of hours in a temple visiting every room, looking at every Buddha by the end of my trip, fifteen minutes was all I could take. What can I say, when you've visited ten temples you've seen them all. I had time to kill before my return journey so I narrowed my choice of temples down to two. The Emperor was very clever he built temples for the religions in China to help persuade people that they were all one, all respected and therefore encourage them that they really shouldn't fight Chinese rule. It also gave visiting dignatories somewhere to worship too.
The first temple I went to see was Puning Si. It is famous for having the largest wooden statue in the world. I would have taken a photo of it but we were banned from using our cameras and it was wasn't all that and I couldn't be bothered to pay the extortionate postcard prices either though when you convert the price into English I was an idiot.
The second temple was Putuozongcheng Miao, it is based on the Polanta Palace in Lhasa and it is stunning. I took tons of pictures, within the main temple building there was central building three storeys high and surrounding it were three floors of great Tibetian artifacts. It was opulently decorated and made me want to visit the real Polanta Palace in Lhasa. There was a magnificant view from the inner courtyard, it looked like a great library. I would have taken a picture except that my camera battery died. I was more than willing to pay handsomely for some postcards but none had the picture I was seeking. A note for next time, when camera battery is low, see everything then take pictures of the best bits rather than taking pictures as you go around :-(
