The Summer Palace

2009 09 02 – Day 68 – Beijing

Once an imperial retreat and now a UNESCO World Heritage site, The Summer Palace is one of the 'must see' attractions of Beijing.  Sadly on the day of my visit, Beijing smog thought it would be fun to come along for the ride:

A smogged view across Kunming Lake to Longevity Hill. Both were entirely man made, with the excavated earth from the lake being used to build the hill.

The lovely local Fiona, who joined me for the day and whose brightness banished the smog where the sun could not.

A dragon boat rid across the lake is nice... would be nicer sans smog.

The Marble Boat lakeside pavillion.

The Long Corridor, a 728m covered walkway between the lake and Longevity Hill, with more than 14,000 (apparently unique) paintings depicting various episodes from Chinese classical literature and folk tales.

A variety of impressive imperial buildings adorn the south and lake side of Longevity Hill:

The north side also has its fair share:

Near the north entrance, there is a custom built tourism village! I was there middle of the day on a Wednesday, so I imagine that's why it was fairly empty:

There was no way I wanted to walk around that tour group trap, so I legged it as soon as I had the photo!

The famous Seventeen-Arched Bridge, a leisurely stroll through the manicured gardens around the lake from Longevity Hill and back to near the east entrance where I began. As the sun gave up its battle with the smog for the day, the bridge was gradually transformed into a fashion runway for an assembled media pack.