National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival Double Holiday: Three-Day Trip to Handan, Hebei - Day 1: Xuebu Bridge and Congtai Park

During the double holiday, the notice said it's best not to leave the province. We chose a three-day trip to Handan.

The reason we wanted to go to Handan was because of Fantawild. Last year we went to the Fantawild in Jinan and found it quite fun. This year we can't go to Shandong, so we might as well go to Handan. Upon checking, I realized that Handan has a very ancient history. It is a city that hasn't changed its name for 3100 years. The most famous is King Wuling of Zhao's 'Hu Fu Qi She' (wearing barbarian clothes and learning horseback archery).

On the morning of the 4th, we packed up, boarded our dog Shang Xiaowang, and headed straight for Handan.

Around noon, we passed through the Xingtai service area. The buffet was 38 RMB per person, and my husband said it was too expensive. So we each had a bowl of instant noodles and ate the dishes we brought from home.

We arrived at Xuebu Bridge around 3 pm. Xuebu Bridge is the bridge from the idiom 'Handan Xuebu' (imitate others to lose one's own identity). During the Warring States period, there was a young man from Shouling in the Yan state. He heard that people in Handan, Zhao had exceptionally graceful walking postures, so he traveled a long distance to Handan to learn the local walking style. As a result, not only did he fail to learn the Handan walking style, but he also forgot his own walking style, and in the end, he had to crawl back.

As soon as we entered Handan, we learned many idioms, realizing that many idioms are related to Handan: 'Yellow Millet Dream' (pipe dream), 'No one picks up lost items on the road', 'Returning the Jade Intact to Zhao', 'Bearing a Thorn and Apologizing', 'Handan Xuebu', 'Besieging Wei to Rescue Zhao', 'Mao Sui Recommending Himself', 'Hu Fu Qi She'. Truly a city of idioms.

While we were playing at Xuebu Bridge, we saw three patrol officers walk by. When we went to check the car, we saw a parking ticket. 100 RMB. Just consider it as having had a buffet at the service area.

We went to find Congtai Park. We noticed that Handan No.1 Middle School was right next to it. During the official school term, there were many cars. So we parked the car again at Xuebu Bridge. Crossing the bridge, we arrived at Congtai Park. It was once the reviewing stand of King Wuling of Zhao.

In the evening, we found a Home Inn, a 160 RMB king bed room for one night. We stayed there. Next to it was a Daoxiangcun restaurant, packed with people. We bought some food and returned to the hotel to eat.

In the morning, we got up and headed straight for Fantawild.