After walking round a small part of Beijing, we had a new respect for the size of the place and we'd decided walking was out and biking was in, so on the hired bikes we got.
The lady behind the desk at the hostel, Apple, was hugely helpful and shook her head rigorously when she heard we were planning to bike to the Summer Palace, about 18km from where we were staying. It was also Apple who had warned us off walking to the Forbidden City, saying it was far too far and she did make the point that once we’d biked to the Summer Palace AND walked around it, we’d then have to bike home again. Sensible lady. She was talking to me when she said this and Euan just shook his head, pointed at me and said “don’t worry, she’s tough” and virtually shoved me out the door. It only took two hours of biking through some awfully busy streets that, in London terms, would be like the A3 or in NZ terms, like the Auckland motorway. The scenery wasn’t particularly pleasant and the biking was dangerous at times. I didn’t twig on to the free right turn rule and was left swearing and cursing at cars that cut across me while seemingly driving through a red light. Euan had realised long before (just hadn’t told me!) and was way behind me in the safe place shouting at me that they had right of way. Dammit! We did bike along a canal that was quite pleasant but we should have learnt the way to say “look out” or “excuse me” in Chinese as I so nearly got taken out by an old chap who decided to pull his fishing rod out of the water and lay it across the path just before I rode past.
We were quite relieved when we got to the Summer Palace and climbed up a weird looking bridge to see the view.
I’d have paid to see the look on our faces when we realised that this place was also absolutely massive. We reckon it took us three hours to walk around it and some of the views were lovely but the day was a bit hazy.
The temples were impressive and very colourful but unfortunately the colours just weren't coming out in the photos.
There was a cool marble boat that looked in need of some TLC. Empress Dowager Cixi was apparently responsible for that. She used money intended for the modern navy to refit the buildings in 1888 and the only remotely nautical thing she spent money was this boat! Can't imagine she'd have been very popular at the time!
The 17 arch bridge spanned 150m to an island that had more temples and there were loads of folk hiring pedalos to get around. Quite sensible as the lake was so big there was a ferry that took people too and from different points around the edge.
We walked around the whole lake (or one of them!) and it was incredibly peaceful with many bridges to cross and very few people around.
The water was so still
until a wee pedalo or water taxi came along and ruined reflections with ripples!
We took a different route home but stopped off on the way for food at a supermarket which is always fun in a country where you can't read the writing or speak the language. We really had little idea what we were buying most of the time. We spent the evening drinking incredibly cheap beer (25p for a 750ml bottle!), eating unidentifiable food that we’d brought from the supermarket and chatting to two English chaps who were on their summer break from university and had spent a month travelling in China. They were hugely entertaining to talk to and we gleaned quite a bit of information from them but we don’t think we’ll be able to repeat their chance night out with Chinas best break dancer. They said it was the most surreal night they’d ever had and that their moves just didn’t cut it.
The lady behind the desk at the hostel, Apple, was hugely helpful and shook her head rigorously when she heard we were planning to bike to the Summer Palace, about 18km from where we were staying. It was also Apple who had warned us off walking to the Forbidden City, saying it was far too far and she did make the point that once we’d biked to the Summer Palace AND walked around it, we’d then have to bike home again. Sensible lady. She was talking to me when she said this and Euan just shook his head, pointed at me and said “don’t worry, she’s tough” and virtually shoved me out the door. It only took two hours of biking through some awfully busy streets that, in London terms, would be like the A3 or in NZ terms, like the Auckland motorway. The scenery wasn’t particularly pleasant and the biking was dangerous at times. I didn’t twig on to the free right turn rule and was left swearing and cursing at cars that cut across me while seemingly driving through a red light. Euan had realised long before (just hadn’t told me!) and was way behind me in the safe place shouting at me that they had right of way. Dammit! We did bike along a canal that was quite pleasant but we should have learnt the way to say “look out” or “excuse me” in Chinese as I so nearly got taken out by an old chap who decided to pull his fishing rod out of the water and lay it across the path just before I rode past.
We were quite relieved when we got to the Summer Palace and climbed up a weird looking bridge to see the view.
I’d have paid to see the look on our faces when we realised that this place was also absolutely massive. We reckon it took us three hours to walk around it and some of the views were lovely but the day was a bit hazy.
The temples were impressive and very colourful but unfortunately the colours just weren't coming out in the photos.
There was a cool marble boat that looked in need of some TLC. Empress Dowager Cixi was apparently responsible for that. She used money intended for the modern navy to refit the buildings in 1888 and the only remotely nautical thing she spent money was this boat! Can't imagine she'd have been very popular at the time!
The 17 arch bridge spanned 150m to an island that had more temples and there were loads of folk hiring pedalos to get around. Quite sensible as the lake was so big there was a ferry that took people too and from different points around the edge.
We walked around the whole lake (or one of them!) and it was incredibly peaceful with many bridges to cross and very few people around.
The water was so still
until a wee pedalo or water taxi came along and ruined reflections with ripples!
We took a different route home but stopped off on the way for food at a supermarket which is always fun in a country where you can't read the writing or speak the language. We really had little idea what we were buying most of the time. We spent the evening drinking incredibly cheap beer (25p for a 750ml bottle!), eating unidentifiable food that we’d brought from the supermarket and chatting to two English chaps who were on their summer break from university and had spent a month travelling in China. They were hugely entertaining to talk to and we gleaned quite a bit of information from them but we don’t think we’ll be able to repeat their chance night out with Chinas best break dancer. They said it was the most surreal night they’d ever had and that their moves just didn’t cut it.
1 comment:
WOW, this looks very peaceful and relaxing and somewhere wher timed stopped and decided to just go a bit slower, take its time to enjoy the surroundings. And that Bridge, Euan that makes me think of the lovely bridge at Stoke Park.
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