The Boys of the Summer Palace

It's been a while since my last post - exams are on now and I've been busy. Everything is finishing up for the semester, so we have had a few class get-togethers and lunches. The biggest of these was yesterday, when we had a big lunch with almost all the class, and some of the teachers, then went bowling at a hotel next to our campus (without the teachers, unfortunately). Later we picked up some Italians and went to a Thai restaurant, and had a great time. We ended up at a rooftop beer garden in Wudaokou, to say goodbye to Martina, a good friend of almost everyone in the class, leaving on Monday.

This afternoon, I was woken up by Alfonso at the unreasonable hour of 1pm, saying "get up, we're going". At least, that's what it sounded like. He was asking me to go with him to the Summer Palace, which is a Beijing attraction not far from where we are staying. I went along, since I hadn't been there before.

It was a bit over 20 minutes away by bus, and as can be expected of something so conveniently located in Beijing, packed on Saturday. The Summer Palace is so called as it was the summer residence of the Emperor during the Qing dynasty, and so we went on a suitably summery 38 degree (100 degrees Fahrenheit) summer day. This was not comfortable and I'd suggest going later in the year.



On entering the palace it looks much like the other Imperial residences like the Forbidden City in Beijing or the palace in Shenyang, except perhaps a bit less grandiose and imposing (although, we may not have gone to the most Imperial parts). There are a few small complexes on one side of a lake, which is filled with small boats and has an island, accessible via a long, Chinese-style stone bridge. We were able to see all this when we ascended the path to a large pagoda on a hill.



About half of the way up was quite dignified and suitable for an Emperor, all being under the shade of traditional Chinese roofs and allowing one to ascend via gentle stairs. This changed to tall, steep flights of stairs in direct sun for the last section. At least for this part, we were rewarded with views of the surrounds.









The pagoda contained a large, old Buddha statue. We had a bit of a look then went back down, to find something else to look at.



We decided to walk around the lake and see if we could cross the bridge over to the island. After a break under a pagoda, we did. The bridge was of the old stone arched style, which I saw a lot of at the West Lake in Hangzhou (which was like this place, but bigger and nicer).



There wasn't much on the island itself, just a hilly road and some small buildings. You can see the pagoda we climbed up to well from it though.



This was enough walking around in the heat for me, and there wasn't much else nearby to see (and if there was, it would've cost extra), so we left. Unfortunately we left from the gate near the bridge and not the gate we came in through, so it was a bit of a walk to the bus stop. But it was a good day out overall.

Afterwards we had dinner on campus with some of our neighbours. Alfonso is still out, but I'm writing this instead of watching the World Cup.