Beijing - Day 3 (Summer Palace)

On Sunday, May 23, we met our new friends at 10 am in our hostel lobby. We had the front desk call a taxi, and boarded it for the 40 minute or so drive to the Summer Palace. A 40 minute taxi ride only cost $20 total and there were four of us to split it!



We got to the Summer Palace a little after 11 and it was HOT! We bought tickets and made our way through the main gate.


Borrowed from Wikipedia:

The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It 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 made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill. In the Summer Palace, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.

The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Emperor Qianlong). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks—during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.


This next picture is of a three-story theatre within the palace walls. Apparently, three different shows could be going on at once to entertain the Empress and her guests.

They had a show going on when we walked by. It was two men fighting/dancing to the beat of a drum and some basic instruments. Very cool.

After we made our way up and back down Longevity Hill, we decided to board a dragon boat to the small island across the lake.

Liz Teacher and I on the boat:

Summer Palace from the water.

On the island across from Summer Palace:

We walked from the island across a long bridge back to the main gate of the palace. We hailed a taxi back to our hostel, grabbed some lunch there and then began our journey to the airport for our 6 pm flights back to Seoul!

No hiccups on the return flight and we made it back safely. I wish we could have spent more time there. Maybe next time.... :-)