[Slow Youshui Town]

I first met Shuizhen in a sunny autumn.
Walking into the town, the moment my eyes touched the gate building, the style of the water town had entered my mind. As the people walk, there is scenery everywhere you stop, and love when you turn your eyes.

Shuizhen is like a girl with bright eyes and a kind eye. Her clean, refreshing, deep, exquisite and delicate appearance slides into my heart and cannot be removed.

The gray creeper and the large red and green leaves shone brightly under the sunlight, covering the entire street walls in an atmosphere. It complements the transparent wall lights on the walls.

The town is built along the river. A Tanghe River runs through the entire town from south to north. Mountain courtyard buildings in the style of the Ming, Qing and Republic of China can be seen everywhere on the bank. The white walls and gray tiles are quite romantic.

There are not only small bridges and flowing water, but also tree-lined alleys. We accidentally discovered a green alley, and fried chicken is suitable for portraits!

Everything in Water Town exudes a flavor of old Beijing. In some corners, you can see the shadows of hutongs and courtyards.

Walking along the stone road on the river bank, you can see various houses, archways, ancient towers and small bridges and flowing water.

When you are tired from walking, you can also take a rowing boat and rafting the Tanghe River. During the day, you can feel the tranquility and simplicity of the town, and at night, you can appreciate the dim lights of the town...

Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the air is fresh. Small bridges and flowing water, rippling blue waves, hidden in a green. In the boundaries of Beijing, I feel an unprecedented delicacy and exquisite cultural customs.
Looking at both sides of the river from the rowing boat, you can see clean and refreshing alleys. Antique cottages live next to the water. The whole street is narrow but beautiful and unforgettable.

[Meeting the Great Wall]

Perhaps the best way to say hello to Shuizhen is an early morning hike on the Great Wall. Walk on the Simatai Great Wall, breathe freely, and look forward to the distance. The Great Wall is continuous and winding, and the mountains and forests are dyed. Reflecting the first ray of morning sunshine, feel the history and vicissitudes of the Great Wall.

Get up early the next day and go to Simatai Great Wall to experience classes from professional yoga teachers from India. Feel the joy brought by yoga with each breath and breath, and experience the nature and purity of the unity of man and nature.

The morning light shines on you, and the Great Wall is particularly beautiful. This time is especially suitable for taking photos. People can stand on a sloping place, and a casual photo will make a stunning movie in the circle of friends.

The Simatai Great Wall is the most dangerous and beautiful section of the Great Wall. Although it is beautiful when taking pictures of the Great Wall, pay attention to safety first when taking pictures!

To be honest, the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing is a crowded tourist attraction both on weekdays and holidays. If you want to climb the Great Wall with few people, I recommend coming to the Simatai Great Wall!

In addition, we also experienced a rich picnic on the Great Wall. After practicing yoga and taking photos, we started the picnic time.

We laid out picnic cloths, arranged plates, knives and forks, and set up a hearty breakfast. It was really ceremonial. It is a good life experience to have the Great Wall alone and have a picnic on it.

The Simatai Great Wall is the only section of the ancient Great Wall that retains the original appearance of the Ming Great Wall. It is also the only Great Wall in China currently open for night tours. Take a cable car and tour the Great Wall at night with lanterns in hand, look up at the starry sky in midsummer, and look down to see the romantic night view of Gubei Water Town.

From the Great Wall, you can overlook the night view of Gubei Water Town. After the lights are turned on at night, the town is covered with golden light. In addition, there is water vapor at the foot of the mountain, making it foggy and dreamy.

[Photo by Red Leaf Travel]

Shuizhen is a cluster of plants. Liana plants grow on walls and woody plants grow along rivers. Soil embryos, mud tiles, rock fragments, houses are half-hidden under the leaves, and clusters of fruits are hanging from the flower windows. From the eaves high above, along the black tiles, a string of red and green hangs down.

Different from the red leaves all over the mountains and plains in scenic spots such as Xiangshan and Pofengling, the red leaf season in Gubei Water Town has a unique aesthetic feeling that combines plants and buildings, scenery and humanities.

Every autumn, this place is a favorite place for tourists. The walls are covered with red leaves and its popularity is booming.

Whenever the five-leaved gardenia turns red, warm yellow poplar leaves blow into the water with the wind, and the waves of Tanghe River float into the warm color of the mountain shadows. Looking from a distance, the red leaf town under the Great Wall seems to be floating in the clouds. Looking at it, you will have thoughts.

Water Town is very suitable for photography, and this experience is particularly profound in autumn. Brush through the mottled stone wall and explore into the mountain courtyard covered with red leaves. Every ups and downs, every turn, is an unexpected joy.

The wall is full of what we commonly call "creeper", which becomes the perfect back plate for taking photos. Whether you are a "photo expert" or a "face value spokesperson", the Hongye Kingdom is an indispensable stop for your autumn travel!

Recommended locations for "appreciating red leaves" in Gubei Water Town (estimated time from early October to mid-November): Sima Xiaoshuangfang leads to Yongshun Dyeing Factory, the outer wall of Yongshun Dyeing Factory, Zuofang Street, Linggong Street area, Great Wall Bookhouse Hotel has a decent exterior wall, at the entrance of Liyuan Inn, Xidong and West Street areas, Baqi Inn, Yanmen Inn Lane, Simatai Great Wall. See the beauty of the water town with "layers of forests dyed".

Each ancient town corresponds to a traditional culture. Gubei Water Town is also very good at inheriting and promoting traditional culture. Soju, dye workshops, shadow puppets, etc. are all passed down here.
There are paper-cutting shops, New Year paintings workshops, cloth dyeing workshops, burning hotels, weighing shops, umbrella houses, etc. Some shops also have unique hand-made DIY experiences, such as learning to make kites from an old master in a kite shop.

Sima Xiaoshao belongs to one of the treasures of roasted meat, liquor, and sesame cakes in Miyun's Three Treasures. It has the reputation of Beijing Laobaigan and can be compared to Erguotou.

The main raw materials of Sima Xiaoshao are red sorghum and other grains. It is brewed using traditional techniques. It is dry enough, thick and fragrant, sweet and refreshing. In the winery, you can learn about the wine-making process and buy shochu. There is also an exhibition hall where wine-making equipment and wine storage tanks are placed.

There is also a dyeing workshop on Zuofang Street where you can learn to dye cloth. This courtyard is full of various printed and dyed fabrics. The colorful ones are quite beautiful. You can take portraits of you in these small scenes.

I like this place full of Chinese style, and I also like the images taken here.

There are also some interesting shops such as paper-cutting shops, shadow puppet theaters, and kite cultural centers, which have not been visited one by one due to time reasons.

[Night view of Water Town]

After a day of sightseeing, I saw the ancient buildings characteristic of Gubei Water Town and felt the beauty of red leaves. At night, you may want to rest in the hotel, but what I want to tell you is that you must come out and take a walk and don't ignore the beauty of Water Town at night. Perhaps the pace of life in the north is faster than that in the south, and the night in Water Town is silent with a little flavor of the old city.

The Cloud Cafe in the Hilltop Church can be said to be the best photography spot in Gubei Water Town. You can see the night view of the entire water town here, but remember not to be too late to shoot night views. It is especially good when it is just dark, so that you can still see the blue sky.

What is worth mentioning is the water show performance, beautiful and cheerful music, combined with dazzling lights, the interaction between sound and light and advanced projection technology, turned Wangjing Tower into a "magic building". This magic building keeps changing various beautiful colors and even changing shapes. It seems that Wangjing Tower is alive, and the magical atmosphere opens the eyes of all viewers.

In addition to the unpredictable light show upstairs in Wangjing, the music fountain in front of the building is not to be outdone. The water column keeps swinging with the music lights, and dazzling flames appear from time to time. The perfect integration of music and light, and the passion of water and fire collide. There are bursts of exclamations from time to time in the crowd. It is really a wonderful visual feast.

Gubei Water Town brings together delicious food from all over the world. In the streets and alleys of the town, you can see all kinds of specialty delicacies everywhere: such as Guguan Hotpot City, Tanghe Muslim Restaurant, Roast Meat Restaurant... Stroll through the food street and enjoy the world of food.
The town's "Guguan Hot Pot Restaurant" can also eat northern characteristics of big-bone mutton soup hot pot and small hot pot. This is the only hot pot restaurant in Gubei Water Town and is quite popular.

At the roast meat restaurant at the foot of the Simatai Great Wall, business is also very booming.
Roasted meat and sesame cakes account for two of the three barbecues in ancient northern China. The sesame cakes are made of dough. The outer shell is crispy and the inner layer is soft. They are opened with a blade and are very suitable for pinching meat.

Braised Miyun Reservoir wild fish, cucumber shrimp, celery beef, and stewed lamb chops are all specialties here and taste very good.

Wangjinglou Flavor Restaurant is located in the Wangjinglou Boutique Hotel near mountains and rivers. It is a good place to enjoy Shandong cuisine and fine Cantonese cuisine. You can not only taste the salty and fresh taste of Shandong cuisine, but also taste the oily taste of Cantonese cuisine without getting tired.

When night falls, you can taste delicious food outdoors and see the illuminated Simatai Great Wall. It is a good place to view the scenery.

This is my first time in Gubei Water Town, so I naturally have to choose a special hotel. The newly opened Huotang Hotel is located in the Orchid Valley of Gubei Water Town Scenic Area. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is quiet and natural. The natural environment of the valley and intimate and comfortable room facilities keep people away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Huotang Hotel is inspired by the combination of "Hakka Tulou" and "Great Wall", paved with history and culture. The external structure is concise, and the building that seems to be built with adobe bricks as walls is actually meticulous everywhere.

From the hotel lobby to the decoration of the room, it is full of rich quaint ethnic customs. There is a round gauze curtain around the top of the bed, creating a romantic and mysterious atmosphere. The dense greenery outside the large floor-to-ceiling window spreads in front of you. You can look up and see the Simatai Great Wall.

The huge circular patio and circular corridor seem to allow people to travel through the scene in "Big Fish Begonia", with the civil structure intertwined with light and shadow. Bonfires will also be lit here in the evening for a unique indoor bonfire party.

The Niancheng Hotel not far away has a different style. Both the exterior and interior reveal simplicity and simplicity. The geometric design with "blank space" and the minimalist atmosphere with beige white as the main color make it difficult for young people not to like it.

The newly launched starry sky tent in the town this summer has a more wild taste.
The area in the tent is not small, with mattresses, bedding, lounge chairs, clothes hangers, mosquito repellent and other supplies. Imagine a quiet night, in the quiet and narrow Orchid Valley, outside the curtain is nature, looking up at the stars, this is also a luxury!

[Water Town Transportation]

Self-driving routes from Beijing: Gubei Water Town is about an hour's drive from downtown Beijing, making it very suitable for self-driving tours. After getting off at Simatai Exit No. 24 of Beijing-Chengde Expressway, turn left on the right ramp for about 2 minutes.

1. Departure from Beijing by railway: Metro Line 13 and get off at Huoying Station. Walk about 323 meters to the Huangtu Station of the "Huaimi Line". Then take the "Huaimi Line" train (heading for Huairou North) and get off at Gubeikou Station. Get off at Gubeishui Town, and take the Gubeishui Town special line from Gubeikou Station to Gubeishui Town.

2. Direct train from Beijing: Dongzhimen-Gubei Water Town direct train fare is 48 yuan/person/one-way, driving 134 kilometers, and the duration is about 120 minutes. Departure point: Dongzhimen Station (north side of Dongzhimen Public Transport Hub Station, take buses No. 942 and No. 855 on the bus) Departure time: Monday to Friday 9:00, 12:00, and 15:30; it opens at 14:00 on weekends and official holidays, and everything else remains unchanged. Return location: At the entrance of the Tourist Distribution Center of Gubei Water Town Scenic Area (Gubei Water Town No. 2 Parking Lot) Departure time: Monday to Friday 13:00, 17:00, 21:00; weekends and official holidays 12:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00.

3. Bus routes from Beijing: Take No. 980 from Dongzhimen, get off at Miyun West Bridge Station, transfer to No. 51 bus, get off at Simatai Village Station, and walk to Gubeishui Town.

4. If you arrive from the Capital Airport or the urban area, it is recommended to take a hitchhike at a price of about 100 - 150 yuan for one and a half hours.

In addition, the scenic area does many activities in the autumn. If you go, you can refer to them.
Great Wall Music Water Dance Show Performance Time:
19：00-19：20
19：35-19：55
20：10-20：30
20：45-21：05
21:20-21:40(Performance will be held on Fridays and Saturdays)
Red leaves bloom season: October 1-November 10
Autumn Games: September 20-November 25 Time: 10:30-11:30, 14:00-15:00 Location: Riyue Island Square
Hanfu Rental: September 20-November 25 Location: Goldfish House
Dawn Yoga: September 20-November 25 Time: 8:00-9:00 Location: Western section of Simatai Great Wall Cost: 100 yuan/person
Hatha Yoga: September 20-November 25 Time: 9:30-10:30 Yuanyang Lake Platform
Great Wall Picnic: September 20-October 31 Time: 9:00-9:30, 15:30-16:00 Western Wall Cost: 288 yuan/set (double)
Cycling to the Great Wall: September 20-November 25 Departure time: 9:00, 14:00 Cycling station-Western section of the Great Wall Cost: 100 yuan/person
Cycling to the Great Wall: September 20-November 25 Departure time: 9:00, 14:00 Cycling station-Yuanyang Lake 40 yuan/person