In a city far away, in the lands of oriental origin, resides a powerful creature, sheltered by steep mountains characterized by the temperate climate. Only the brave dare to visit this territory during wintertime due to the ice cold temperatures. The defendor of this heavenly highland is the primal force of nature and features ancient legends and myths. He is the dragon of Longqingxia. Yanqing DistrictLocated in the municipality of Beijing, about 75km north- west of the capital, Yanqing is popular for hoarding ancient caves and tombs, aswell as the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Another of its treasures is portrayed in this blog: the Gorge of Long Qing Xia. At the mouth of the Yanqing Old city river, this Scenic Area invites discoverers to ride along its waters, leading to fantastic places of natural beauty. It takes up to 2 hours by car to reach this area. Long Qing GorgeThe whole gorge measures 7km. The first thing that you will see is the dam, constructed in 1973, which provides irrigation water for the surrounding territories, and has an altitude of 70 meters. On top of this reservoir, you can appreciate the beautiful scenery of hills of the gorge. How do you get onto the dam? The dragon mentioned above does indeed exist, but it is an artificial construction with the purpose of being an escalator, taking visitors onto the dam. Main attractionsMany of the hills and rocks along the river have own designations: The Comb Hill, Flowers Cave, Immortal Taoist Temple and Jingang Temple. The landmark of the scenic area is the 70meter high Comb Hill is also known as Solitary Beauty Peak. Flowers Cave features artificial trees of more than 1650 species which are decorated with birds and other animals. Various themes like Blooming Flowers and Northern Scenery divide these plants into categories. I have only seen the ice lantern festival, explained below. During summertime, cruising trips allow visitors to explore the clear waters of the river, admire the flourishing Nature and the high hills, to take the challenge of bungee jumping from a 48m high cliff, or to take the flying rope which is a 200m long pulley and slide, a project built between two cliffs. However, there are many more alternatives for sports enthusiasts in this scenic area, such as rock climbing and skydiving. During winter, it is not possible to take boat cruises since the river is frozen and the dragon escalator is closed anyway. However, from January until Feburary, this scenic area hosts a spectacle of ice and lights, namely the Ice Lantern Festival, or Winter lights Festival. Ice sculptures and lanterns light up the whole exhibition, which is sited below the reservoir. The most favourable time of the day to visit Long Qing Xia is at dawn, around 4 to 5 pm, when the dark nights are then illuminated by innumerous lanterns placed around the hills, you will see light shows aswell as concerts that take place. One of the highlights is definitely the massive icefall against the dam. Every year, the festival portrays a different theme. This year, it presents the future Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. It is certainly an impressive event, but the ice cold temperatures can also be a great obstacle. Yes, I always feel cold, so I put on many layers of clothing to keep me warm during the visit. I wore three (!) pairs of socks and still couldn't move my feet for about 2 hours. So if you don't already feel comfortable with the freezing temperatures in Beijing downtown, and want to go for a trip to Long Qing Xia, then prepare ypurself for "Siberian - like" conditions. How to reach Long Qing from Beijing downtownMy colleagues and I ordered a personal driver from the hotel. But here are other ways to get there using public transport. By Bus: at Deshengmen Station take number 919 heading to Yanqing County and then transfer to 875 to reach Long Qing Gorge. By Train: At Beijing North Railway Station get onto the Inter - city Line S2, afterwards take the bus 875 to get to the destination. Remember that the bus schedule is between 5:30am and 6:00pm! If you go by car, you can park it at Long Qing and then take a tuktuk (tickets cost around 10 Yuan) to get to the gorge. Opening Hours and TicketsThe Gorge is open from 9am until 5pm, 10th of April to 15th November and 15th January until the end of February. The entry only costs 40 Yuan per person, and if you want the whole visit (elevator, cruise and flowers cave) the ticket costs 140 CNY per person. For further entertainment activities refer to the prices below: Flower Cave: 10 CNY Boating: 100 CNY Slide: 20 CNY Cableway: 50 CNY Bungee Jumping 150 CNY Immortal Temple incl. cableway roundtrip: 50 CNY I am sure visiting the gorge in summer again! Do you know other beautiful gorges around the world? Looking forward to reading your comments :)
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