Green--Bashang Grassland: Beyond the Horizon(1)

Bashang

Where:

     The first recommendation is Fengning Bashang Grassland in Chengde, Hebei Province. Located about 240km north of Beijing, Bashang Grassland is the nearest prairie destination to the capital, Beijing. If leaving from any Major city, it's very convenient to get to Bashang, either by train, by car, or by coach, and the grassland is completely free and open all day. It's not totally a off-beat trip but it's less crowded compared to Hulunbuir Grassland. There are many side trips you can do while you travel in Chengde, like the Summer Resort, and Small Potala Palace, a mini-replica of Lhasa's Potala Palace. The entrace fee is less than $20 for each.



Chengde is very close to Bejing

What to see:

     It's geographical position at the junction of the Northern China Plain and the Inner Mongolia Plateau makes Bashang a vast plateau with cool weather in the summer. If you want to escape from the steaming weather and avoid the crowded tourist sites, Bashang is a perfect summer resort. It's an ideal site to escape the hustle and bustle in city life and enjoy the peace and tranquility.
     My mom took me there in the summer when I was 13. We took a slow train and spent the night sleeping on the train. Then we took a shuttle bus next morning to Bashang Grassland. Before I even opened my eyes when I got off the bus, the first thing I noticed was the pleasant smell of the grassland, of the soil, of the nature. I kept my eyes closed. A gentle breeze brushed against my face, with mixed flavour of the wild flowers and roast sheep. I felt like the breeze blew away all my worries and eased my heart. Opening my eyes, I was stunned by the openness of the grassland. It's beyond my words to describe. I can only show you in the pictures. The grassland has stretched beyond the horizon and you heart will suddenly open up, just like the open plateau.



Bashang in summer



     Local nomadic people will graze their horses, cows, and sheep on the grassland and let them wander. Although the livestock are bred in the wild, they are mostly harmless and tame if you don't offend them. There will always be some people watching over the animals. Here you see truly grazed cows and sheep. If you ever see the Emmy Award-winning movie Food Inc. which examines the industrial production of meat, the livestock in Bashang are living in the heaven compared to the poor chickens and cows in the movie who are compacted in tiny spaces so that the factory can squeeze as many animals as possible.          Even in the winter time Bashang was still beautiful with the ice coating, but the wind breeze might be chilly and unpleasant. The best time to travel to Bashang is still in the summer, especially late July to August.




Bashang in winter

Fun activities:

     There are lots of fun activities you can enjoy at Bashang, and none of them are expensive. Riding horses is definitely No.1 on the must-do list. The cost are less than $10/hour per person, and it's a unique grassland activity that it's very hard to find elsewhere. Just imagine, riding freely on the grassland with couple of friends, you will feel the path never ends. It leads you to forever.
     Field archery is another activity people like to try out when they visit Bashang. You see these in the movies a lot, but drawing the bow is actually much harder than you think. People like to imitate the ancient Manchu warriors by shooting. Although the movie Hunger Games was not out at that time, but thinking back to that moment, I felt myself like the heroine character in the movie, Katniss Everdeen.

I was trying archery

 

     I also tried another activity and I have no idea how to translate it into English. I guess it would be like a flying trapeze. It was scaring and yet exciting. That was me in the picture. The people in charge released me after making sure all belts were secured. If you look down, you feel like flying over the river. At some point in the middle, it's so low that you would think you could actually walk on the river. But the water is at least two feet below.

It was like flying