Summer Palace

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This was our first day of visiting after arriving in Beijing for a few days. It is by far the windiest day in Beijing we have encountered. Before coming to Beijing we were briefed that we would be visiting 6 out of 8 major tourist attractions: The Great Wall (长城) , Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Fragrance Hill, Bei Hai Gong Yuan and Gu Gong. I was really looking forward to the places. It was therefore somewhat disappointing that we stayed less that 2 hours in the place. In a place like this, I would like to have a whole morning to explore the place and to take pictures. We were given a brief introduction to the concept of courtyard houses "Si He Yuan". The "main" house or "Zheng Fang" is the unit facing the sun. This is also the unit where the head of the family would stay. If the 'si he yuan' housed an extended family, then the eldest or the head of the family would occupy the east most room in the main unit. In other words, the seniority progress from the east to west in the main unit. The side houses or "Xiang Fang" are placed such that the unit on your right-hand when you enter from the main door is higher in hierarchy compared to the the unit on your left-hand. Again, if the unit is split into many rooms to accomodate a large family, the room closest to the east room of the main unit ranks first. It is important to note that the main house and side houses are usually for the parents and sons, while the daughters have no place in the front courtyard.

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Photos

'Must take' photo spot
According to the tour guide, this was a nice scenic spot for taking photos. But unless you have a telephoto lens, the temple in the background is going to be too small!

It is a lake!
The water in the picture is part of a huge man-made lake in the Summer Palace. It was fashioned in the shape of a peach, to symbolise longevity. The weather was too windy for tourists to paddle the boats on the lake surface.

Wenqi
Ha, the photo was taken specially for wenqi, who is busy studying.