Summer Palace and Dinner

All the photos plus a bunch more are in this album:

Summer Palace and Dinner

Sunday was a big day. We got up early and took the train out to the Summer Palace.
The palace is a little way out of town (about an hour or so on the train) but is between the city and the Beijing hills, on the shores of a lake that was hugely expanded by the emperors at the time (or more specifically by the 800,000 people they got to do the work for them) and was where the Imperial Court went when Beijing got too hot. It's a collection of palaces, temples and sort of weird stuff all set in some really nice gardens, lakes, hills and canals.

So the train ride was easy, and we just followed the crowds to find the front gate. We entered at the north gate and planned on leaving by the east gate. There was some mix up with tickets which was easily fixed, then we went in. The first thing is that there's no cohesive "Palace" really, just a whole bunch of separated buildings scattered around the grounds. The first part we ran across was called Suzhou St (I think). It's a very pretty little street set on a canal with bridges, nice shops, lanterns and stuff. Really nice. A little bit like Disneyland, but I liked it.

From Summer Palace and Dinner

After this we sort of headed towards what looked like something you could call the Summer Palace but it ended up being a bunch of indeterminate buildings which were pretty but closed.

From Summer Palace and Dinner

We then saw what we thought was the palace but there wasn't any way to get there. Incidentally, only come here if you like walking up hills and back down them :) The steps are seriously steep, there are a lot of them and to get from one temple to another you have to go all the way back down the hill then back up again!

From Summer Palace and Dinner

After our glimpse, the trail led downhill to the lakes and a boat. So at some point in the not too distant past, an Empress was given a bunch of money to refit the Navy. She chose to spend the money on redoing her palace and then (maybe to make the Admirals feel more at home) she built a boat entirely out of marble and put it in the lake (it doesn't float, it's sitting on the bottom). I guess as a kind of "screw you" pretty much. Anyway, we found a boat, clearly not made of marble but it wasn't clear (aside from the fact that it wasn't made of marble) whether this was significant or just another gift shop.

From Summer Palace and Dinner

We wandered on and found a restaurant for lunch which was actually pretty nice. Then just around the next corner we found the unmistakable marble boat.

From Summer Palace and Dinner

It was then we found we had got to the climbing part of the day. Lots of up and down, lots of stairs and lots of very attractive buildings set on the side of the mountain (including the main temple).

From Summer Palace and Dinner

From Summer Palace and Dinner

From Summer Palace and Dinner

From Summer Palace and Dinner

See the tiny people on the other side of the stairs!

From Summer Palace and Dinner

And after we got down that was kind of it. I did enjoy it and it was really pretty. However it seems clear that Chinese people have a different idea of that sort of thing from me. My problem was that I couldn't tell what anything was for (someone got an audio guide but it didn't give details either) so we were wandering in this very nice garden looking at very nice buildings but with no sense of connection to what they had been used for. Mostly because what they're used for now is selling random tourist crap to people along with snacks. The only buildings that looked like they had things from the time were all locked. So although I did enjoy it and I highly recommend going, the place left me feeling a bit cold.

From Summer Palace and Dinner

After we got back into town, we took a walk past the Drum and Bell Towers (see what I did on Friday!) and headed into the Hutongs for a few drinks before our scheduled dinner. For some reason (maybe the weather, maybe cause they're awesome) the Chinese have really taken to mojitos. You can buy them for as low as 15 yuan (about $2.70) for a huge cup which is about 1/2 rum. They are quite good though.
Anyway, we were booked in for dinner at a place called Black Sesame which is a very small, hidden away restaurant that has 2 tables (big ones) and serves a set menu. They cook the food right in front of you and they were great about Jane's dietary stuff as well. The food was fantastic :)

From Summer Palace and Dinner

After all I could eat and drink, we went out on the town (and I went out slightly too much to be honest) and ended up at home at some time of the night or morning.

All in all, it was a fun day