Blogs from Summer Palace, Beijing, China, Asia - page 4

Friday 11th February We're leaving for Xi'an later on today but before we leave Beijing we are heading to the outskirts of the city towards The Summer Palace or Gardens of Nurtured Harmony as its sometimes known. Once we've had breakfast and checked out we're then driven through the Financial district of Beijing and towards the foot of the mountains in the Northwest. On arrival we notice the beautiful houses that line the streets outside the Palace walls which is a far cry from the residential areas we visted yesterday. We can already see The Summer Palace and Buddist Temple sitting proudly on Longevity Hill in the distance. The Summer Palace grounds covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man ... read more

Today's highlight - the Summer Palace. This is where the royal family went to escape the heat of summer. In the Forbidden City there are no trees (so that no one can hide and plan a surprise attack. The summer palace had no such problems. It is a truly beautiful place but quite crowded with tourists (and this isn't the busy season). Our first glimpse of the Summer Palace was over a huge man made lake. This was built by one of the Emperors for his mother's 60th birthday. It is amazing but is only about a metre deep. Take away the modern day speed boat and small boats and it would have been a very tranquil place in which to relax. From across the lake you could see the Summer Palace and the beautiful temple ... read more

Oct 8-10 On tour in Bejing. Still the smog is horrible. The building across from is very hazy. Visiting all the land marks has been interesting. It is the sheer immensity of them that is amazing. The Great Wall of China was yesterday. We climbed to tower #11 but again, because of the smog we didn’t really see a lot. Then last night as we looked at the Birds Nest and the Cube…through a dark night and heavy smog, then it started to pour on us. The tour was cut short after dinner and we returned to our hotel. Oct 11. Just woke up and looked out the window. There is a city out there! Maybe today we will finally see Beijing. I hope it is as attractive at I think it might be. There are ... read more

After my hike yesterday, I decided to sleep in a bit before breakfast. It quickly became quite evident that my legs were displeased with me. They felt a little swollen and stiff. I hoped walking around would loosen them up a bit. A guy from my hostel and I set out for the Summer Palace around 11am, arriving about an hour later. The Summer Palace was huge... and there were so many stairs. Up and up we climbed, stopping on numerous terraces to take in the breathtaking views, including a McD's. I'm sure the Empress Dowager would be pleased. Most of the palace buildings were closed, which was a bit disappointing. Once we finished climbing up, we were able to go through and down, and then we were at the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which I ... read more

Thursday July 15, 2010 I originally had planned to have a quiet Thursday after my full day on Wednesday. Richard's colleges would not hear of this. I received a call Wednesday evening saying that their summer intern would be taking me on a tour for the day. They suggested the Summer Palace. Since it was on my list of things to see, I accepted their gracious offer feeling somewhat bad for this Master's Student that probably did not think taking the wife of a visiting " VIP" on tour would be part of his duties. I might tell you the VIP status was one he assigned to Rich. But in all honesty he is a pretty important figure to these people. We met in my hotel lobby at 9:00am to head towards the Summer Palace. The ... read more