Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest

Atop Silver Mountain. 

For a Spring Festival outing, Scott and I went with our friends Te-Ping and Ben to see the pagodas about an hour outside of Beijing. This is one of the few ruin sites that hasn't been destroyed in China and used to be a sacred Buddhist shrine/scene spot during the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are a handful of pagodas/stupas still standing, which are gorgeous.

View of Pagodas from the beginning of the hike.

On the way there, as if an auspicious omen, we happened to run into a herd of sheep on the road -- one the first day of the Year of the Sheep! Here's a quick photo Scott took from our cab window.

SHEEP!!

We got all the way out there only to learn the site has been closed since July for renovations -- the exact thing this place doesn't need! But since it was the holiday and no one was around (nor did anyone really care) we ignored the sign and walked right on in. We had the whole place to ourselves and took a lovely hike that led to the Bell Pavilion on top of one of the Silver Mountain peaks.  The best part: our cabbie came and did the hike with us instead of just sitting in the car and waiting! Here are some photos from our great day.

Stupa time. 

Cold but happy. 

Pretty pagodas. 

Our driver and hiker! Bonus: he sung songs on the way down. 

At the top! 

Ring my bell, baby. 

Bell Pavilion at Silver Mountain.