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This place is really beautiful. It has temples, lakes, forests, streams, monasteries, rickshaws, monkeys, trains, cable cars / gondolas, and trails. Watch out for those monkeys though, they can be pretty aggressive!

You should do both the boat tour and the walking one, and preferably the boat tour first. We didn’t do the walking one and I know I will be regretting that for the rest of my life. But the boat tour is really nice. It gives you perspective on just how large this thing is!

This is one of the thousands of People’s Parks in China, but this is one of the larger ones. It has tea houses, a large pond where you can rent boats (which is a lot of fun), assorted monuments, and even a small ‘carnival’ area with rides for the kids. One thing to note: Lonely Planet says that there is a mystery ride or something that is in the park, well, it’s closed.

There is a small admission fee, and you most likely won’t be able to actually enter the Mosque (especially if you’re a woman) but there is a beautiful garden and several arch ways before that. We went right before sunset and it was just beautiful.

There is an amazing water / light show some nights of the week, I don’t know which. But be sure to go!

Don’t think about how dirty the kitchens are, just keep on eating those shishkabobs! Btw, don’t be afraid to wander off into the back alleys; it’ll be way less touristy.

As we were walking back to our bus we were met with a man who asked if we wanted to buy a box of little terracotta warriors. Since they were so much cheaper than the ones the actual shops we decided to get a box. Then the rest of our tour group caught up and they all wanted a box too. In the end our group ended up buying nearly 20 boxes from this guy, who just kept reaching into his jacket and other clothing and bringing out more and more boxes of soldiers. Mind you, these boxes are not small. There were 5 dolls per box, and each figure is three inches tall. Amazing, this guy!

There is so much stuff here it’s amazing! Be prepared to spend at least a half day here. The exhibits are well thought out and representative of China, both it’s history and it’s culture. If you don’t have the time to visit the museum, at the very least go to the gift shop. The have a ton of quality souvenirs. And, unlike most of the rest of China, the printed material (pamphlets, books, tags…) are in proper English.

I went here on a tour and they suggested that we take the longer way. But I had extra time and managed to do both sides, which was totally worth it. It is pretty steep in some places so make sure you’re wearing a pair of shoes that has a nice tread!