We traveled out to the Summer Palace on the best Saturday yet - all blue skies! And clouds! When we were leaving Shunyi to begin our trip we actually saw mountains in the distance. Mountains?! who knew?! I will have to document the mountains on another good, clear sky, day.
The trip to the Summer Palace took quite awhile. We took the bus all the way to the nearest subway station - then subwayed, with one transfer, for forever. When we reached our stop we got off and had to get on yet another bus. But we finally made it!
When we were waiting in line for tickets we chatted with an American who had a Brown shirt on. Because... its nice to talk in English.
The Summer Palace is huge. It has moats, and then all the religious halls/living spaces. The best part is the giant lake that you eventually get to after going through all the structures. The lake is pretty big - and all manmade. There's also an island in the middle - with a huge bridge leading to it. We rented a motor boat at the lake and got to spend an hour floating around.
After that was over we walked through some of the side gardens and then headed out to dinner. After dinner, before heading out on the last bus we stopped in a mall. It was your basic American-style mall, though it was about 6 stories tall.
And I bought someone a Puma shirt ;)
(I got the pictures slightly out of order - sorry! Blogger Photos is sloooow)
View from the back of the bus. I was pretty bored on the long trip out to Summer Palace.
The interns being silly.
I was being Chinese, can't you tell? Chinese women like to walk around with their umbrellas for shade, and then of course everybody flashes the peace sign for pictures, so I thought "why not?"
View from the entrance to the Summer Palace.
It was blue skies, but really HOT.
Detail of statues on one of the buildings. Most of them had their heads broken off, so this was the best shot I could get.
Some tourist.
One of the best pics I took all day. The blue sky helps alot.
Me with the Fuwas - the Olympis Mascots. Being touristy and attracting attention to our waiguoren selves yet again.
View of a Summer Palace rooftop.
The Empress Dowager's Marble Boat.
Our view of the Palace from the boat we rented.
The interns being silly.
I was being Chinese, can't you tell? Chinese women like to walk around with their umbrellas for shade, and then of course everybody flashes the peace sign for pictures, so I thought "why not?" 
View from the entrance to the Summer Palace.
It was blue skies, but really HOT.
Detail of statues on one of the buildings. Most of them had their heads broken off, so this was the best shot I could get.
Some tourist.
One of the best pics I took all day. The blue sky helps alot.
Me with the Fuwas - the Olympis Mascots. Being touristy and attracting attention to our waiguoren selves yet again. 
View of a Summer Palace rooftop.
The Empress Dowager's Marble Boat. Our view of the Palace from the boat we rented.
1 comment:
its so nice seeing pictures with pretty skies! (though probably nicer for you, than it is for me :-P )
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