The Summer Palace

Oh man, that was a tough week! The exams, the late nights and the cramming. Its draining! Remember those days? But now that its over, its more updates over here! And trust me, there is lots to blog about. More food, more sights and more of me! :) Miss me miss me?

This is so embarrassing. Its almost my second month here and i have hardly covered the great historical sights beijing has to offer! There is lots to see and do in beijing but so little time! For the past two months, every free time we had went into shopping time (lots to blog about too)! But amidst all that shopping craze, we girls still managed to find time to make a trip down to the famous summer palace, an escape for the royal family (and us too) during the stifling summer months.

It was the mid-autumn festival celebration and we decided to picnic at the grounds of the palace, hoping to celebrate the festivity in style (like the royalties of the past). The trick to appreciating a place so full of history is to put yourself into the shoes of those who walked that same path some thousand years ago. And when i did that, i truly enjoyed my time there! The only one problem i had with that place was the crowd. Its so hard to take any photo without having some random stranger appearing in my shots! Some of the prettier shots i managed to catch:

Remember this happened some few weeks ago, hence the shorts and skirt

Picnic by the lake The crazy crowd we had to deal with along the long corridor Eutrophication The infamous marble boat which cixi used military funds to build with. Not so sure if its the real deal though. Looks a bit fake from where i stood! Floating down the kunming lake on the rented paddle boats.
The door i am so in love with
And thats what friends are for :)

Wish I had a place like this to call as home. The palace is so huge, it should not be called the summer palace. Maybe the summer city would do it better justice. One day at the summer palace is definitely not enough! One whole day there and all we did was to walk the perimeter of the grounds! I already have it all planned out. I must definitely catch the palace in its different beauty during the different seasons. After all, there is always something new to discover with each new trip! I heard a certain someone (ok more than 1) is coming beijing this winter! So thats summer and winter covered! Cant wait cant wait! :)