The train journey to Chengde Mountain Resort is as magical as the destination, Sadia Sultana discovers.

In my childhood, I loved to travel by train with my mother, who was from a hilly district in Bangladesh called Chittagong. When I recently traveled to Chengde in Hebei province with my kids and husband, it felt like I was back in my childhood.

I was overcome with emotion and nostalgia as the old-fashioned K-train rumbled out of Beijing station, and wound its way through lush green mountains on a bright sunny day. The four-hour journey passed rather quickly in the company of fellow passengers who belted out ethnic songs.

Chengde, once called Rehe, sits in the northeastern part of Hebei province, about 200 km from Beijing. The city is known for its Mountain Resort and Eight Outer Temples - both UNESCO world cultural heritage sites dating to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The resort is one of the country's largest imperial parks, its look a blend of the classic garden styles of North and South China.

The Eight Outer Temples, built in the Han and Tibetan style, not only catered to people's religious beliefs, but were also seen as a symbol of unity, where Qing emperors met leaders of ethnic groups.

The resort and the temples have won Chengde the reputation of being "the pearl north of the Great Wall".

However, our main focus was the resort. So after checking into the hotel, we headed to the resort after a quick lunch.

The resort comprises two parts - the palace zone where the emperors lived with their families, held ceremonies and handled court affairs, and the lake zone, which embodies the beauty of South China.

The breathtaking mountain ranges, the lakes and the gardens defy description. But their brilliance is forever embedded in our memories - and in the many pictures that we took.

The resort itself dazzles with its magnificent palaces and waterscapes that evoke images of scenes south of the Yangtze River, set amid lush grasslands and undulating mountains. The gardens combine the best of West Lake in Hangzhou and the classical gardens of Suzhou. The resort was the largest of the temporary dwellings between Beijing and the Qing rulers' hunting grounds.

In the winter of 1701, Emperor Kangxi went north on a hunting tour and arrived in Chengde.

Struck by its strategic location - offering control of the Mongolians in the north and guarding Beijing in the south - besides its scenic beauty, he decided to build a summer palace here.

Its construction started in 1703 and spanned the 89-year reign of three emperors - Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong - and called for the hard labor of countless people, besides the commitment of considerable material and financial resources.

By the end of Emperor Kangxi's reign, it became significant not only as a summer resort but also as a place for handling court and ethnic affairs.

The grand evening show at Chengde Theater depicted the history of the city and its cultural heritage, through songs and ethnic dances.

The next morning, we visited two of the Eight Outer Temples, Puning and Lesser Potala.

The Puning Temple is famous for housing one of the country's biggest Buddhas and attracts millions of tourists from all over the world. Although taking pictures was forbidden, it was quite an experience to see the devotion of the believers.

The Lesser Potala is no doubt a masterpiece. It was built for celebrating Emperor Qianlong's 60th and his mother's 80th birthdays. It is like a miniature version of the Potala Palace in Tibet.

We took pictures from our car owing to time constraints, then had lunch at a Muslim restaurant and visited a gallery-cum-shop of an artist famous for Chinese paper-cuts and other crafts.

We boarded the K-train back to Beijing, with unforgettable memories of Chengde.

It's still not too late to catch the magic of Chengde before the weather plays spoilsport.

(China Daily 10/02/2011 page10)