Blogs from Summer Palace, Beijing, China, Asia - page 3

We woke on our final day in Beijing excited that it would be our last. This meant we would be heading to the hot weather and friendly people that Thailand is known for! To be honest, other than our trip to the Great Wall and time spent with Joe, our experience in Beijing had been just okay. The people were far less friendly than we had expected, and coming from Vancouver, where the multiculturalism is something that we are extremely proud of and known for, it was quite a shock to see almost no people of different ethnicities in Beijing. Other than at the Great Wall, we could count on two hands the amount of Westerners/Europeans we saw, including the night market. This was just a shock to the system because everywhere else we have travelled ... read more

颐和园, or the Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, mainly consisting of a huge man-made lake called Kunming lake and Longevity Hill. It has been on the World Heritage List since December of 1998, regaurded as "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design." One could spend an entire day or even multiple days wandering through it's maze-like paths, stumbling upon amazing gardens and buildings every so often. The maps they sell inside are not nearly detailed enough, and I found myself getting hopelessly lost frequently, but even while lost I found beautiful displays of Chinese architecture and design.... read more

Summer Palace is a beautiful place. A must see. The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China. Its Chinese name, YiHeYuan, translates as 'Garden of Nurtured Harmony' or 'Garden for Maintaining Health and Harmony'. As its name implies, the Summer Palace was used as a summer residence by China's imperial rulers - as a retreat from the main imperial palace now known as the Palace Museum (or 'Forbidden City') The Summer Palace is located on the western edge of Beijing, between the fourth and fifth ring roads, close to the western Fragrant Hills, 12km from central Beijing. The Summer Palace is virtually a museum of traditional Chinese garden arts that blends rocks, trees, pavilions, lakes, ponds, paths and other features to create a poetic effect between different scenes. ... read more

We went to the Summer Palace in the afternoon after we visited Mutianyu. We left Mutianyu at about 1pm and arrived at the Summer Palace just before 3pm. We hired a driver to take us around that day, so had a nice 2 hour nap during the travel time. Apart from the entrance fee to the Summer Palace, 5 sites within the Summer Palace required additional entrance fees. At the entrance, you can either buy 1) a combo ticket which includes the entrance fee to the Summer Palace and the other 5 sites, or 2) a ticket which includes the entrance fee to the Summer Palace only. If you choose option 2), you can pay for the entrance fees for the sites you want to visit once you are inside the Palace. We recommend option 2) ... read more

Today is our second day in China and already we have plans to travel to the Summer Palace, Eat local foods and check out what Beijing shopping has to offer. Before I get started, I wanted to add a quick note to the readers. My last blog drew towards a pessimistic side to China without giving it a second though. After a few days to reflect and think about the China trip as a whole my final conclusion is that I had one of the best times in Asia. There is always some good and some bad that comes with traveling, but the important thing to look at it in a positive and optimistic light and take each day with new stride. Although I have only been in Asia for the past two months I have ... read more