Lower your expectations, change your perspective, and revisit Chengde

I left the house at around 6 am, but where to go? At this time, it should not be congested going from home to Chaoyang Station, and it would take just over half an hour to get there, saving a lot of time compared to going to the South or West stations. So, off I went. The ride-hailing driver was a few years older than me and asked about my train departure time. I told him that I was leaving on a whim and was not in a rush to catch a train. He was a bit surprised, 'You can travel like that?...' We chatted about his hometown Qianxi (which is part of Tangshan) and its specialty: Qianxi chestnuts. 'Qianxi is a coal mining area, and the soil contains iron, which produces chestnuts that are not very large but are very sweet and glutinous, with some having a sugar content of up to 30. When the Japanese occupied the area, they transported a large quantity back to Japan, so in previous years, Japanese elderly people recognized Qianxi chestnuts very well. Chestnuts from other places, like Huairou and Miyun, might be larger, but the Japanese didn't want them...' 'I grew up with the water from the Luan River. Have you heard of the diversion of the Luan River into Tianjin?' Coincidentally, I had just been searching the map for the source and course of the Luan River (originating in Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei) and its estuary (Changli, Hebei), and saw that it flows through Chengde. So, why not go to Chengde? Sometimes, the inspiration for a destination is just that simple. I arrived at Chaoyang Station at 7:30 am, and there was a train to Changchun at 7:45 am, which I could just catch. Chaoyang Station mainly serves trains to the Northeast, and almost every train passes through Chengde. On the train, I found out that the Luan River is not only the largest river in Hebei Province but also the second-largest river in the North China Plain (the first being the Hai River, which is fed by five or six other rivers). In less than an hour, I had arrived at Chengde South Station. The train sped along, with mountains undulating along the way. Once you reach Xinglong County, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the mountains. Chengde is both a summer resort and a mountain city, surrounded by valleys. On a clear day, the layers of mountains are stunningly beautiful. Shuangta Mountain is a Danxia landform, originally the crust of the seabed that was arched up, then continuously eroded and cut by strong water flow and weathering. Shuangta Mountain is not tall, but besides the serene scenery of the forest, the main attractions are the two ancient natural stone pillars and the Liao Dynasty stone pagodas on the mountain top. Looking up at these sheer cliffs, people marvel at how ancient craftsmen managed to build two pagodas on top of the stone pillars. I think that whether in the Khitan era or the Qing Dynasty, when sieging cities and fortresses, they used cloud ladders. Climbing these stone pillars over thirty meters high should not be as difficult as ascending to heaven, especially since there are many small holes on the stone pillars, which could be natural or later carved, that could also be used for climbing with ropes. On the way here, the taxi driver told me that in the 90s, a spiral staircase was built on this stone pillar to allow tourists to climb to the top to worship Buddha. This, however, led to the later theft of the Liao Dynasty stone Buddha inside the pagoda. However, the local macaques climb these stone pillars and the surrounding rocks with ease. When visiting places like Shuangta Mountain, you need to lower your expectations or change your perspective, such as considering the Danxia landform or the habitat of macaques, to evaluate the attractiveness of the scenic area, so you won't feel like the trip was in vain.