Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest (银山塔林）
The Canadian Mimi and I visited the Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest (银山塔林） on Friday, 29 May 2009. Silver Mountain is approximately 60km outside of Beijing and Mr. Zhao our driver, picked us up at 9am. He's always super-conscientious and was actually already waiting at 8.30am for us!
The pagoda forest lies on a mountain, which is covered with silver-like snow in winter, whihc is why it's called Silver Mountain. We saw it when it was covered in beautiful green, though! :) During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was apparently one of the eight greatest scenic spots of Beijing.
First glimpse of the Pagoda Forest. Although only 18 stupas remain, it's still an impressive sight. The mountain used to be a famous Buddhist shrine in north China. As early as the Tang Dynasty it was the site for performing Buddhist rites. The temple was visited by numerous prominent monks and if anyone of them died there, a stupa would be built to commemorate him.
Photos were taken by the Canadian
Among the halls of the temple there were five brick stupas with closely set eaves, under which the holy relics of eminent monks of the Jin Dynasty were buried. In the middle was the stupa of Master Youguo Fojue; on the left, that of Master Huitang Youguo Fojue in the front and that of Master Xujing in the back; on the right, that of Master Yixing in the front and that of Master Yuantong in the back. Together with the temple structures they formed what is now referred to as the "pagoda forest".
Beijing Belly. So famous - and quite inexplicable.
More in the Pagoda Forest
This guy looked so peaceful
We left the Pagoda Forest behind as we started our hike up Silver Mountain
No idea what fruit this is
This couple seemed to have broken past the barriers to sit on the other side of the fence
We had a long way to go ...
And as there were many stairs ...I was so slow and Mimi and the Canadian were constantly waiting for me to catch up
Did I mention that there were a lot of stairs :) Nonetheless, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was a beautiful walk
With things to see along the way
Dangerous place to stand to take photos!
Strange sign - since when is litter a hammer and mushrooms? :)
Garbage bin disguised as a rock. The park is very well-maintained and extremely clean. The steps are also very easy to walk on.
Kid with a solar powered fan on his sun hat
We finally reached the Bell Pavilion
Beautiful views and more strange signs :)
Back of the Canadian's panda t-shirt
We continued our climb. The Pagoda Forest seemed very far away and it was hard to believe that we'd just been there.
The air was clean and fresh and to my glee, the park wasn't too crowded.
The stairs seemed neverending :)
The Pagoda Forest seemed even further away now
As did the Bell Pavilion
The view was gorgeous
Going back down the mountain was faster, albeit tough on the legs. Here's a hawker sitting in his own basket :)
Mimi's shoes and my shoes
We rewarded ourselves for our hike by eating dessert - the photo is of the remnants ;)
We didn't take photos of the food before we started, unfortunately so I will use other photos :) We had mango pancakes:
Peanut smoothie:
Mango ice
The pagoda forest lies on a mountain, which is covered with silver-like snow in winter, whihc is why it's called Silver Mountain. We saw it when it was covered in beautiful green, though! :) During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was apparently one of the eight greatest scenic spots of Beijing.
First glimpse of the Pagoda Forest. Although only 18 stupas remain, it's still an impressive sight. The mountain used to be a famous Buddhist shrine in north China. As early as the Tang Dynasty it was the site for performing Buddhist rites. The temple was visited by numerous prominent monks and if anyone of them died there, a stupa would be built to commemorate him.
Photos were taken by the Canadian
Among the halls of the temple there were five brick stupas with closely set eaves, under which the holy relics of eminent monks of the Jin Dynasty were buried. In the middle was the stupa of Master Youguo Fojue; on the left, that of Master Huitang Youguo Fojue in the front and that of Master Xujing in the back; on the right, that of Master Yixing in the front and that of Master Yuantong in the back. Together with the temple structures they formed what is now referred to as the "pagoda forest".
Beijing Belly. So famous - and quite inexplicable.
More in the Pagoda Forest
This guy looked so peaceful
We left the Pagoda Forest behind as we started our hike up Silver Mountain
No idea what fruit this is
This couple seemed to have broken past the barriers to sit on the other side of the fence
We had a long way to go ...
And as there were many stairs ...I was so slow and Mimi and the Canadian were constantly waiting for me to catch up
Did I mention that there were a lot of stairs :) Nonetheless, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and it was a beautiful walk
With things to see along the way
Dangerous place to stand to take photos!
Strange sign - since when is litter a hammer and mushrooms? :)
Garbage bin disguised as a rock. The park is very well-maintained and extremely clean. The steps are also very easy to walk on.
Kid with a solar powered fan on his sun hat
We finally reached the Bell Pavilion
Beautiful views and more strange signs :)
Back of the Canadian's panda t-shirt
We continued our climb. The Pagoda Forest seemed very far away and it was hard to believe that we'd just been there.
The air was clean and fresh and to my glee, the park wasn't too crowded.
The stairs seemed neverending :)
The Pagoda Forest seemed even further away now
As did the Bell Pavilion
The view was gorgeous
Going back down the mountain was faster, albeit tough on the legs. Here's a hawker sitting in his own basket :)
Mimi's shoes and my shoes
We rewarded ourselves for our hike by eating dessert - the photo is of the remnants ;)
We didn't take photos of the food before we started, unfortunately so I will use other photos :) We had mango pancakes:
Peanut smoothie:
Mango ice