The Summer Palace!

Today we visited the Summer Palace. It was really beautiful. We left our dormitory at 8:30 in the morning. The Summer Palace is really close to PKU so it didn't take long to get there. Once we arrived we all split up into smaller groups and began to explore the grounds. It was an excellent day for this trip. The weather was beautiful; it wasn't too hot or too cold and there was a beautiful blue sky.

The Summer Palace is where the emperor would spend the summer in ancient times. There is a giant lake in the middle of the grounds surrounded by gardens and temples scattered throughout the area. We walked around the entire lake and saw a lot of temples and ancient buildings. There is also a marble boat! Ana's guide book sort of ruined the wonder of it by telling us it is made of wood and just painted to look like marble but it was still really cool.

Susan, Wenisa and I looking out at the lake at the Summer Palace

The lake is surrounded on all sides by very large hills. There was one point when we climbed to the top. It was beautiful. On one side we saw the view of the lake and the summer palace whith all the classic Chinese architecture and on the other side of the hill we saw the skyline of Beijing filled with bustling traffic and modern skyscrapers. It was a very interesting contrast showing China's rich cultural history and also their modern present and future. This was an awesome trip and definitely a must see for anyone who is visiting Beijing.

The view of Beijing from the top of the hill

Zai jian!