{Part VIII of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Countryside North of Beijing, China}

It for sure was a big eye opener for traveling North of Beijing, some 2 hours by bus into the countryside. That's the only way to get to know the people. Not a much used route for the average tourist but for the People to People Citizen Ambassador team it also was a purpose to visit mushroom growers in that area. Now I'm talking about the white button mushrooms.

So once again leaving the city of Beijing and seeing the scenery change...

This is what you see in the countryside! POVERTY...
For sure this has not changed that much since March 26 of 1987!

Leaving the city of Beijing behind, lots of construction going on everywhere.

It sure is a country with lots of bikes, at least in the flat areas.

The woman on the bike is looking at the team's bus...

Kind of greenhouses...

Never easy to take pictures from a riding bus... but yes, that are plastic covered greenhouses.

So that are the Chinese market gardeners...

Here comes the horse power into the picture!

Brick homes but it does not look very affluent...

Vegetable gardens alongside a little river...

Yes, we are slowly going into the mountains!

Poor horses... and poor people.

It is a smaller type of horses what they use.

Little villages seem to be kind of walled in...

Very dreary looking villages with homes that only have windows on the sunny side...

Passing this village and climbing up into the mountains...

It makes one very quiet for seeing such extreme poverty and knowing it gets bitter, bitter cold in this area with lots of snow!

Stones everywhere...

It looks like they build a wall from those stones...

What you see here are MUSHROOM HOUSES...
But there was no production due to the season still being too cold.

It does hurt to see such extreme poverty where people struggle to make a living...
You see the outhouse at the top left?

Oh my!
That will make your butt freeze off...

These pigs seem to be quite happy!

To be continued with a visit to Jinshanling Great Wall...

Related links:

{Part VII of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Lama Temple in Beijing, China} | previous post by me
{Part VI of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China} | previous post by me 

{Part V of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Forbidden City in Beijing, China} | previous post by me

{Part IV of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - City Views of Beijing, China} | previous post by me

{Part III of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Arrival in Beijing, China} | previous post by me
{Part II of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Tokyo, Japan to Beijing, China} | previous post by me

{Part I of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me

{People to People Citizen Ambassador Program - Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me

{The Most Powerful NINE-Letter Word... "KNOWLEDGE" - Acquire it}

We're almost at the finish of TEN...

This is a mighty one as we all can acquire it for as long as we live!

The Most Powerful NINE-Letter Word... "KNOWLEDGE" - Acquire it

This is indeed one of the very BEST!

Let's cling to the K of KNOWLEDGE, just like this angel does on the silver alphabet letter K

the "K" is one to wear as a charm on a necklace or hung on a silver keychain (available at my online boutique as well) on a tote or handbag.

Alphabet letters are available at Spectrenoir ←just click.

Related links:

{The Most Selfish ONE-Letter Word... "I" - Avoid it} | previous post by me

{The Most Satisfying TWO-Letter Word... "WE" - Use it} | previous post by me

{The Most Poisonous THREE-Letter Word... "EGO" - Overcome it} | previous post by me

{The Most Used FOUR-Letter Word... "LOVE" - Value it} | previous post by me

{The Most Pleasing FIVE-Letter Word... "SMILE" - Keep it} | previous post by me

{The Most Spreading SIX-Letter Word... "RUMOR" - Ignore it} | previous post by me
{The Hardest Working SEVEN-Letter Word... "SUCCESS" - Achieve it} | previous post by me
{The Most Enviable EIGHT-Letter Word... "JEALOUSY" - Distance Yourself From it} | previous post by me

{Part VII of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Lama Temple in Beijing, China}

This will be the last post about Beijing, China...
A visit to the Lama Temple or Yonghegong Lamasery as it is also called. 

It's not really Chinese but the Lama Temple is a favorite place to visit in Beijing.

It is in fact a Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhist temple with surrounding buildings.
This Lama Temple originally served as residence for court eunuchs. Click the following link for more info: Eunuchs as Imperial servants in dynastic China - Chinasage

Imperial roof decoration man riding bird, nine beasts, immortal figure, and dragon.

Very different architecture here.

You can find more pictures on TripAdvisor about Lama Temple (Yonghegong)

Looks like an entrance and mostly bikes are 'parked' here...

Of course that caught husband Pieter's attention as it made him feel like being back in The Netherlands!

Some of the team members... 

It sure looks like a lovely day...

In Pieter's one-week diary that he managed to keep up with, he wrote that at the end of March 25, they ended the day with a lovely dinner, consisting of 27 courses.

But we all know that Chinese are artists in preparing lovely little bite-size dishes!

Goodbye Beijing!

Next will be about Countryside North of Beijing China...

Related links:
{Part VI of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China} | previous post by me 
{Part V of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Forbidden City in Beijing, China} | previous post by me
{Part IV of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - City Views of Beijing, China} | previous post by me

{Part III of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Arrival in Beijing, China} | previous post by me
{Part II of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia - Tokyo, Japan to Beijing, China} | previous post by me

{Part I of Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me

{People to People Citizen Ambassador Program - Husband Pieter's Trip to East Asia} | previous post by me