We spent most of the day today at the Summer Palace. For the most part, the architecture here was pretty similar to what we saw in the Forbidden City what made it interesting was the landscaping, both around the palace and incorporated into it. The palace grounds surrounded a fairly large lake and were placed on a rather steep mountain. We got to experience both of these we climbed up many flights of stairs to get to the temple on top of the cliff, and we rode paddleboats around the lake.
I enjoyed seeing Chinese artifacts, such as the jade sculptures, that were housed in some of the buildings. Vivienne told me and Ryan about the meaning of some of the objects: for example, a vase with a bat and peaches on it symbolized good luck and prosperity. I wish we had more time to look through these treasures we moved rather quickly through the palace. I think my favorite part of the buildings was the long corridor that connected many parts of the palace I loved looking at the paintings on each section and seeing the lake scenery on one side and the buildings and mountain on the other.
The climb up the stairs to the temple at the top of the mountain was rather difficult because the stairs were at awkward heights, but we got some magnificent views from the top. On the way up, I got to observe the animals that were carved on the corners of a building, which showed the great attention to detail in this palace. Unfortunately, it was rather cloudy today so we did not get the best, most breathtaking views, but it did contribute to a sense of mysticism about the place I felt almost completely removed from the modern Beijing buildings and almost felt a sense of tranquility at the top of the mountain. Evidently the Chinese people did too many made the climb up to pray to the goddess at the top of the temple even though the area was crawling with tourists.
When we got back down to the lake, our group got four paddleboats to get a closer view of buildings and bridges at the other side of the lake (and to have fun). Naturally, this turned into an all-out boat war between my boat and one other boat, featuring a faked alliance against Dr. Gaos boat and splashing each other with water bottles filled from the lake. This was a lot of fun, and since I havent spent much time with the entire group outside of our scheduled activities, it was a great way to connect with them.
Finally, we went to a small shopping area along a canal within the Forbidden City. This area was especially tranquil, and was basically what I had been picturing in my mind when I thought of Chinese streets. I was able to buy more traditional-looking Chinese wares, and there were fortune-tellers and people playing Chinese woodwind instruments. This emphasized for me how much Beijing has modernized most of these quaint streets are gone, replaced with huge markets and crazy traffic.
After exiting the Summer Palace, the group went to a hotpot restaurant for a late lunch. This is essentially Chinese fondue you are given water with spices on a hot plate and plenty of meat and vegetables that you cook yourself. I got a spicy cooking bath, which turned out to have lots of peppers in it. It was still delicious I especially liked the dumplings and the lamb, though sometimes fishing them out from the pot was an adventure.