Constantine and I planned to head to the Summer Palace this morning, and over the course of the day we managed to recruit Henrik (Sweden), Stef (Germany), and Lorne (Australia) to join us. After a quick breakfast at the hostel we gathered our things and grabbed two cabs to the Palace.
The Palace is on a huge (but not Great) lake, which we walked down one side of, before heading back and visiting the northern side, where the actual Summer Palace lay. We lucked out, and for the first time in China, I was experiencing clear skies, so we had some great views after climbing to the palace.
We walked around the palace, to the other side of the hill, and Suzhou Street which was a small group of restaurants and stores along one of the rivers running through the Palace area. We had lunch there, and paid far too much for tea. They tried to overcharge us for some more tea, but we were having none of it.
After lunch we made our way back to the Palace gates, and negotiated a not-so-legitimate taxi back into Beijing Centre for 70rmb ($10 Canadian) – which wasn’t too bad split 5 ways. We decided to stop at a local market, and immediately as usual, there wasn’t much I was after. Was hoping for a few souvenirs, but most of the goods were just things locals would buy. There were hardly any other foreigners in attendance.
We met fellow hostellers, Simon and Ken (friends from Winnipeg) at the market, and split the group in two. Lorne, Henrik, Ken, and Constantine headed out for more shopping, while Simon, myself and Stef took a cab back to the hostel. Simon spoke Mandarin, so we managed to make it without incident.
Sat around at the hostel, then took a cab with Sevey, Stef, and Jeff for dinner. Headed back to the hostel and tried to fix Sevey’s computer so he could get onto the internet. Just as I’d given up hope on it working he managed to connect. With my mission accomplished, I hit the sack.
