Bolin Temple — Attraction in Shijiazhuang

From Cangyan Mountain, my driver then brought me to Bailin Temple which was located 2 hours East of Cangyan Mountain. Along the way, as we were approaching the Bailin Temple, I stopped over to get something to eat. Famous in the area here is the Donkey meat wrapped in Bread (Donkey Burger). Many stores in the area are selling this and I definitely enjoyed it. In fact, I thought it was pretty good and so I had 2.

Arriving at Bailin Temple, there was a slighly larger crowd that the one at Cangyan Mountain, but the crowd size is still relatively small. This offers a great opportunity for you to slowly enjoy the temple. There isnt a whole deal to see here as most of the hallways and halls are closed, so you arent able to look inside.

Located in the courtyard are some trees that are over a thousand years old each, and have been maintained till today. The courtyard is nice and quiet and you will walk through it to reach the worshipping hall where tourists can offer incense to the buddha located inside.

The Temple grounds are actually much larger that what you would see after stepping through the gates. In order to visit the back of the temple, you need to first exit through the main entrance and then turn left to enter through a side door. This will bring you to the outer loop as well as the back of the temple. The structures are nice and I think one of the key selling points of the place is the peacefulness and lack of other tourists. However as a traveller, I would highly recommend you visit the Long Xing temple...

Google incorrectly lists this temple as Bolin since the character 柏 has two pronunciations.

Bailin Temple is open 8am-4pm and is free to enter. It is a working temple and centre for Buddhism in Hebei. Apart from the pagoda, most of the buildings were rebuilt in the early 1990s and the temple is not particularly historically interesting, though it's pleasant and quiet and would be great for practicing Buddhists. We found the temples in Zhengding much more interesting.

Bailin is easy to get to from Nanjiao bus station 南焦客运站. Take the bus to Zhao county 赵县 (13RMB; foreigners pay at the information desk). It takes about 75 minutes depending on traffic. Get off at the bus stop opposite the temple gate (柏林寺). The bus back goes from the stop outside the gate: look for the characters for Shijiazhuang in the window (石家庄). The last bus is at 6pm. You'll stop in Zhaoxian to pick up more passengers and you'll pay after this. They might also offer the option of changing to a bus leaving earlier in which case you pay on...

This Buddhist Zen temple was first construed in the early 3rd century.

It is one of the major historical & cultural sites protected by...