Chengde, the city best known for its summer resort palace for the past Qing dynasty emperors. The trip from Chengde to Beijing in the Qing dynasty would take roughly a month, with multiple stops in smaller palaces and hunting exhibitions in between. Today it takes 3 hrs on the Jingcheng expressway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengde

the Jingcheng expressway passes through 2 sections of the greatwall. Simatai Greatwall can be seen in the distance built on impossibly high cliffs.

the 12 totems of the Chinese zodiac

since summers in china is hot and Chengde is located near a body of water, the emperors throne room is completely made out of cedar to prevent bugs like moths and mosquitoes from nearing the emperor.

While we were in Chengde, we met with my grand aunt, who is the sister of my moms father. She is 82 this year, and still takes 3-4 mile walks in the morning in the palace (free for local seniors). Here she made food for us, probably the best home cooked meal i’ve had ever in my life haha