#21 The Summer Palace and missing German - Found!

Saturday June 4

Up early again, tired. Breakfast at the hotel - hold the broccoli! …like Bush senior. We haven’t been adventurous with meals here, but then there isn’t much to choose from in this neighborhood. Today is our last day in Beijing, we pack, check email, jot a to-do list, pay for our Xi’an tickets, check-out, and take off for the day’s touring. Just in case we overlooked them (per previous blogs), we once again search for the missing Esprit capris carrying store and Italian restaurant on Dongsinan Street. Still missing. Must be a double hallucination.

Zoe waits for a green/yellow taxi rather than a red one as they are newer (read cleaner & exhaust free on the inside). Though the price is somewhat higher, it is worth the smooth air-conditioned ride. The driver is slow and careful, no blasting horn, and we arrive at the Summer Palace for about Y32 - a bit much, but no time to fret over it. At the entrance there is the usual line-up of souvenir shops; we pay Y50 each for tickets that include three extra exhibits. In the end it is wasteful because we find only one of the three halls.

The Summer Palace is massive. What in China isn’t? Think Big is their motto. The Great Wall, The Grand Canal, the population, the Forbidden City, Mao’s reign, the dynasties, the master plan to take over the world’s economy. Map in hand, we meander through the maze of buildings and courtyards: Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, Hall of Jade Ripples, Garden of Virtue and Harmony, Hall of Nourishing Pleasures Great Stage. Lovely names for the higher states of being we all wish to experience.

After two plunderings by European invaders, the palace halls and gardens were rebuilt and expanded both in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The last ruler who lived here, the infamous Empress Dowager Cixi, made the most elaborate and costly additions. In 1888, diverting money meant for a new navy to defend against invasions, she inadvertently set the stage for the demise of dynastic China; in 1902, when money was needed for governance and reform, its diversion towards the second reconstruction helped to seal the Qing dynasty’s fate and opened the door to decades of uprisings and revolution. Then again, did she see the writing on the wall, knowing no amount of money would modernize China at the time, nor create a military power strong enough to fend off Western encroachment, spending it on national heritage instead?

Read a response by Victor Hugo regarding the English-French sacking during the Second Opium War (1860) of the Old Summer Palace at Yuanmingyuan (circa 1700). This sight is just north and a little east of the Summer Palace we are visiting…(please note that the added text of the title of the article and the ending information puts this summer palace in the wrong location, it is not on Kunming Lake). Chinese history is confusing, the writers of it unclear, and the information on the web unreliable. But to the best of my understanding there are three summer palaces, two in Beijing, and one in Chengde. The most famous in a tourist’s mind is the Summer Palace in northwest Beijing, (circa 13th century) which has been fully restored after two destructions by the same English-French invaders, insider pilfering by the Kuomintang Nationalists, and sheer neglect. This is the one we modern people think of when we’re asked to conjure up Summer Palace in the foggy recesses of our minds. The “Old Summer Palace”, the one mentioned in the article above was sacked but never restored. Why the “newer” one is called the Old Summer Palace is something only the Chinese could explain at length with many convolutions and additional names. The third is in Chengde, northeast of Beijing. It is called the Imperial Summer Villa and is also not restored (but not sacked by the same invaders, this one by the Japanese). The reason I mention all this is when surfing the net for more historical reference, I came across the most appalling errors of fact, misinformation, and plain dumb mistakes in depicting certain events (the worst offender appears to be Wikipedia.org). Who knows - maybe my research is erroneous too?

The map is detailed and we tour ourselves along paved pathways through well-tended, luxurious, shaded park grounds. In the delicately designed pavilions and walkways at the Garden of Harmonious Pleasures, we pass a group of giggling adolescent girls on a school outing, each one in turn says “Hi!” or “Hello!” acting as if it’s the funniest thing to speak to us.

Lining the crisscrossed paths, ancient hunched over cypress trees are propped up with steel beams, imitating old men leaning on their walking sticks. We follow along Back Lake, reaching a set of buildings lakeside - looks like shops & restaurants. It is called Suzhou Street as it replicates the layout of its city namesake on the coast of the East China Sea. Opposite this are stairs that lead to the Hall of the Buddha Confirming His Doctrine. First set leads to another set of stairs then to a rather dim hall with a Buddha statue. Either side of this building are more stairs up to unusual stone “caves” with an interior labyrinth of passages - the stone here appears to serve as the foundation for the building above. So many halls, can’t keep track of the names, what we’ve missed, and what there is yet to see. With limited time we are trying to traverse the entire grounds but are failing to hit all the sights.

We come across a building that is tiled with small yellow glazed Buddhas - it is said to have 1008 of these niches. Strangely, many of the Buddhas have the heads sheared off - destruction by the interlopers mentioned above??

There are so many paths and ways to go; we choose a long downhill path that takes us to the boathouses at Kunming Lake. We cross the Arch Bridge seeking the restaurant indicated on the map, only to find it closed. We explore the Head Purifying Pavilion and Welcome-the-Rising-Sun and Wusheng Temple, cross the Bridge of Banana Plant and run smack into the Glut of a Thousand Tourists. Up to now the tour has been peaceful with a sprinkle of Chinese tourists enjoying their national heritage. Now we know where all of the tour-bus tourists are - by the Hall for Listening to Orioles, which you couldn’t even if there were orioles. Jammed and crammed into this one section of the grounds - I ask, why?? They certainly are not getting their money’s worth out of their tour guides.

Making haste past the throngs, we get a quick look at the famed marble boat, The Clear and Peaceful Boat, moored permanently alongside the Long Corridor. It has been assigned the awful symbol of Empress Cixi’s “navy” (refer to above funds redirection) though the wooden structure, painted to look marble, was originally constructed 100 years prior.

Finally a place to rest: the Heralding Spring Pavilion. To our amazing surprise we see the missing German from yesterday’s Great Wall adventure. At least he’s not dead. What is his story? This tall, 40-something, very fit man took the cable ride up, strolled down, then went to the Jinshanling side, walked for a bit, then came back to the exact spot where we were dropped off and waited - for a couple of hours. Just right there, did not look around the area for the bus, or any of the passengers. He ended up hitching a ride with others who took a taxi back to Beijing. He’s telling us this story, insulted and angry at the tour operator. Why? Are you so stubborn and thick headed that you would only stay in one spot and not even try to look for the bus? Get a clue, you hadn’t seen ANY of your bus-mates in that spot!! Ach, he was complaining of other travel misadventures… a guy looking for doom and gloom.

The day is whizzing by fast, yet I think we can fit in one more place, the Seventeen Arch Bridge that leads to South Lake Island. A unique bridge, it arches rather dramatically, but no steps, just smoothed over ridged stone that’s kind of slippery on the sandals. Kite fliers congregate here sailing colorful shapes into the stratosphere. Ah, a beautiful day in a beautiful place. Like the Forbidden City, we needed to slate a few more hours to absorb it thoroughly. Just as well, Zoe is exhausted - me too.

Closing time - and we know by now not to take this lightly - so we hurry to the east entrance whereupon we are quickly bombarded with taxi offers. Following the guidance of Lonely Planet, we ignore the unofficial looking taxis, hop in a green one (green is clean!) and the driver will not take us. Why? We’ll never know. The other drivers are laughing. At us? At him? Is it just an intimidation tactic? Are we naïve? We find another green taxi, the driver reads our pre-printed “take me to Hao Yuan Hotel” card and we are off!

Again we dine at the hotel; since options on the street are Chinese too, why not eat here in very pleasant surroundings? All set to go, the front desk girl helps us by writing out “take me to west train station” in Chinese. Such a lovely hotel and staff, if I’m ever in Beijing again this is the place to stay!

Bags in tow, we stop to buy water at a shop in the hutong alley. The shop owner smiles and flaps her arms “asking” if we are leaving, I nod, but counter with a choo choo sound. Though we’ve had little interaction with her, save buying beers, her warm goodbyes are genuine.

The attempt to snag a green/yellow taxi fails because we miss-time the hail. Even with the suspiciously roundabout route in the choking red one, it costs only Y27 in the end. We are dumped in the snarled mess of vehicles and luggage at the station entrance, but are relieved to see organization and clear signage inside the terminal. Easily find the soft sleeper waiting room. There is a ticket counter here if you need to buy tickets, good to know for future reference, though the cost of a cab ride here to buy tickets is about the same as the service charge from the hotel. The counter person speaks a little English; she looks at our tickets and confirms that we are in the right place. The room is packed; we are lucky to find one chair free - it’s so big that we both fit in it, sort of, well anyway, we like each other’s company, a lot.

This high-ceilinged elegant room, reminiscent of a genteel era, is appointed with rows of deep leather armchairs arranged around low tables. Though filled with swarms of noisy tour groups, the hall has an intimate feel. There is café seating along one wall, and a waitstaff eager to see to your tea and coffee needs. Clearly the soft sleeper class is designed for Westerners and middle class Chinese - odd though, in this people’s republic, that you would find such class distinctions. Reinstated and tolerated in order to beef up tourism?

A digital display reads out departure information and overhead speakers announce in English and Chinese. Our wait is short, the walk to the platform is fast and the staff is helpful.

We have been concerned that we’ll be saddled with crummy roommates (given the selection in the waiting room…). HA! There is an all male college field trip aboard and we are rooming with two 20 year old guys. Gee, Zoe sure is unhappy about this turn of events - within 1/2 hour she is invited to the dining car where all the guys are hanging out. Huh, where’s my karma? I’m invited thusly: “Mom, you can come too”.

Tomorrow we will wake up in Xi’an. And I will no longer be old and mother-like.

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