A Beautiful Afternoon In The Forest Park Of The Shunyi District

Greetings, My dear Hive Fellows.

Being in the Beijing Municipal District's Huairou for more than five years I have visited very few neighborhood districts as I was in a long Covid-19 lockdown as per the government policy. As the lockdown was completely gone in 2023, I started to check out the neighborhoods nearby to continue my exploration, especially since I prefer visiting the natural scenic places in my leisure time. I have a lot of places to see before I leave before I get my graduation next year, hopefully. I don't think many people will plan such detailed trips to see Beijing's beautiful spots, especially the wild ones that I have explored in the northern region of the municipal. I have been to more places than many of my colleagues have because I like to find hidden spots with beautiful nature in the city and its surroundings, but they like to go to fancy restaurants and only the limited top scenic spots nearby. Also, the mountains can be very dangerous for climbing for many people, but I have seen very old people and children love hiking here, which is not widely seen in my home country.

Shunyi district is another neighboring district, but it is not on the northern side but on the southern side, and it is located on the way to Beijing downtown. I want to make good use of the weekends after I am free to move. If it is a sunny weekend, I won't miss the chance—this is something I have learned from living in the Beijing Municipal area for five years. Nowadays, I often have beautiful sunny days in the winter. So, my goal that week last December was to have a visit to the southern neighboring district called "Shunyi," which is where the Peking Capital International Airport is. I have not traveled through this district previously. I chose Binhe Forest Park, which is by the Chaobai River and lies almost entirely east of where the Beijing Capital Airport. I also chose this area because I can use public transportation in the evenings because the buses from the center of Beijing go through the Shunyi district on their way to northern districts like Huairou and Miyun. So, I can get them even if I am quite late in the evening.

I got up pretty late as the night before I was watching a movie, so I left for the site around noon after my launch. It takes about two hours to get there. To save money, I took the bus instead of a cab for the 40 km trip, which would have cost between 100 and 150 RMB. I had to change buses twice. I really like the public transportation here for getting around town and going to the mountains. For example, there is a bus path from where I live that goes to the northern mountains and costs about 10 RMB and takes about 80 km. If you want to get to the northern areas like Huairou and Miyun by bus from the city center of Beijing, you have to go through Shunyi.

Another reason for my not visiting the Shunyi district is that there is no good natural scenic areas like lakes, mountains, or other things. Most of this district is plain lands and only some riverside parks like I am going for can be explored. So, I have visited Miyun City too much and still have many places on my list, but for Shunyi, it is difficult for me to choose a place to pay a visit. So, I have not visited this district too much compared to other districts.

The park was located quite far from the district city area near the Chaobai river which is coming from the far north of the Beijing Municipal from the Miyun reservoir. There was no sound in the park itself, but when I went through the entrance gate, I saw a lot of cars parked and people going into and out of the park. At the opening to the park, there were a lot of people, but when I went deeper into the forest park, all the people had gone. The park is much bigger than you might think for being in the middle of a city. And deeper in the park, it becomes very silent as the main road sound completely fades there.

The tall trees did not have leaves and seemed golden in color at the top due to the afternoon sun. The bottom did not shine as brightly as the top because the sun was shining on the tops of the long trees. I have spent most of my time near the river bank as I was amazed by the views of this particular area. On the road by the river, I saw a lot of people running, walking, and enjoying the scenery on their afternoon walks. There were also some children with their parents there. I missed my bike because there was a different track for bikes next to the running track that went all the way around the park. The park is too big for such sports to be possible.

The beauty of the riverside trees was amazing though there was not too much water in this winter season. I found some tourist sitting arrangement which was quite fancy for the visitors but saw very few people enjoy the time here many be for cold I think. So I will come here in the coming spring with my bike. In that bright side, the afternoon was really great, just like a winter afternoon should be. I have along walking inside the park also.

In the deeper area I found some sports and gymnasium corner where I saw some peope were plating and doing some kinds of excersise. It is a common scenario in China that you can find some gymnastic instruments near every community, which is a sign that people can make their health better here by doing some physical activity with these free-to-use basic gymnastic instruments. I really appreciate this an I hope my country could do such things for people’s better health.

I hope you like my photos of the beauty of this golden world with the beautiful nature with brown forestry area and blue sky. It was an amazing experience to have experience with the winter nature in the Shunyi district, to discover different natural beauty, and to enjoy my Beijing life! If you have any queries, let me know in the comments, and I will try my best to answer them.

Thanks a lot for your time and attention. I will catch up with you at the next one.
Wish you a good day!

All the photos are taken by me and these are my own properties.