Escape to The Summer Palace

I didn’t sleep well last night, so I decided that after my room mates left for the day, I would sleep in. When I got up, two of them had checked out for flights back to the US. The third had a later flight home this evening (all were studying abroad in Tibet this summer.)

I thought about the idea of going home. In some ways I can’t wait. I’d give anything to see my parents right now. In other ways, if someone showed up at my door right now and offered me a ticket home tonight, I am not 100% sure I’d take it. In some ways, I actually wish I had more time to go more places and see more stuff.

When I did get up, I decided the three things I still wanted to do in Beijng were (1) see the summer palace (2) tour some of the Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist Temples (3) Eat Peking duck in the city that invented the dish.  After doing a little research, I found a restaurant for the duck and decided that that and the palace were on the agenda for today.

Since the palace closed at 5:00 and the restaurant was on the way, I decided that I would first go eat duck for lunch, and then hit the palace (move in that direction and keep being productive.)

The restaurant I went to was called Bianyfang. It was founded in the 1600’s and was a favorite of many generals that worked for the emporer. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao discovered the restaurant and ensured that it was preserved as part of Beijing’s heritage. It was then moved to its current location in the pent house of a mall. It turned out to be not only a great meal, but a very cultural experience as I was the only white person in the entire restaurant, and no one really spoke English.

Peking duck is prepared by roasting the duck over an open flame so the skin is crispy and the meat is tender. It is then sliced thin and served on thin, flour pancakes, with a brown plumb sauce, bean sprouts, and cucumber.

It tasted amazing! I think I was supposed to go up to the bar to watch the chef slice my duck, but I didn’t quite understand what they were saying. In the end, the waiter brought it over on a platter and showed me how to eat it by rolling the meat and vegetables up in the pancake, while wrapping it all around a chopstick. It really was so good. The meat was tender, the sauce was sweet, and the vegetables tasted so fresh. Washing it down with a bit of limeade, it was one of the best meals I’ve had outside of Shanghai.

My next stop was the Summer Palace. Luckily, when I got to the metro, there were actually signs pointing the way to the palace. I still wound up paying a presumably homeless man to take me there in a rickshaw—not because I thought I’d get lost, but because it was almost 100 degrees out.

I bought the full ticket and rented an audio headset. At first I couldn’t get the headset to work, but eventually an English speaking employee explained that it was RFID activated and would work when I walked into the specific rooms.

Many guidebooks and websites give conflicting views of rather or not to visit the Summer Palace. Most agree that if you have the time, it is cool, but the Wall should be a greater priority. While that might be a fair way to arrange a schedule, I can’t imagine seeing Beijing without going here. It was breathtaking, and so much cooler than the Forbidden City.

Basically, during the Qing Dynasty (from the 1600’s—1900’s) the Royal Garden was converted to a Palace on the outskirts of Beijing. The project started in 1749 and took 100,000 workers years to complete. Each emperor added something to it, and it is now about ¼ of the size of the Forbidden City. Eventually, the British captured it during the Opium war and took nearly all of the relics and treasures from the houses and temples. In the 1900’s when it was returned to China, Empress Cixi took the lead on restoring it. Most of the relevant history of the palace dates back to her.

A sort of Marie Antoinette figure, Empress Cixi was quite a character. She put her husband on house arrest in the Summer Palace for nearly 10 years, had a long standing affair with a Eunuch (not sure how that worked), and basically built herself a series of gaudy pavilions, temples, and homes throughout the garden that showed her opulence and gluttony.

And it is beautiful!

The entire complex is red buildings with brightly tiled yellow, blue, and green roofs. Some are one story while others are nearly three. There are pavilions and theatres for shows, zen gardens for meditation, temples for prayer, and the worlds longest outdoor corridor. Every wall, ceiling and floorboard is painted in a majestic mural (modeled after a Suzhou style of finger painting.) Some pay tribute to the seasons, others to animals, and some to various myths and legends.

In one courtyard, there was a singer preforming Chinese opera. She was wearing a silk gown and painted with the traditional white face make up. The singing however was so high pitched and shrill. I filmed about 10 minutes of it to show people back home, but I wouldn’t condemn them to any more than that. The next act was a band playing a bunch of instruments I’ve never seen before. It was pretty, although the entire thing sounded out of tune.

The corridor was also pretty. I forget exactly how long it was, but the paint work on the ceiling was awesome. The beams were all red or blue, but the murals in between were incredibly detailed and artistic. I wouldn’t say it was realistic at all, but it was very majestic.

The complex—which surrounds a lake—was super crowded, even more so than the Forbidden City. It looked like the Zoo on free Kindergartner day…except with rowdy adults instead of rowdy 5-year-olds.

I would have to say, half a day was probably not enough to explore the entire complex. I realized this after about an hour of wandering around and seeing Empress Cixi’s quarters as well as her “favorite Euunich’s house.” I decided to focus on the two famous things. If you google Beijing Summer Palace. The two things that come up are a white arched bridge, and a big temple on a hill. I spotted both of these features and decided to make a go at it.

As I said, the complex is situated kind of up in the mountains away from Beijing and surrounds a lake…a big lake. The bridge leads out to an island, but it is on the opposite side of the lake from the temple. I made it there in about 30 minutes (taking quite a bit of time to take photos on the way.) On the bridge, a few old men were flying kites. The dancing paper figures were beautiful to watch and I couldn’t believe how high up they were soaring. The island that the bridge lead out to wasn’t much to see. There was a pavilion and some fun rocks to climb on—despite the signs forbidding tourists to do so, which were all printed with poor grammar. The highlight though was the view of the Incense temple across the lake.

Little ferries shaped like dragon boats shuttled people from the island to the temple. I decided to buy a ticket and make my way over since I only had an hour to get there before the Palace closed. They packed the boat full before taking off, but once they did, it was a quick little ride.

Where we docked we could see Empress Cixi’s personal boat. It did not in fact sail but was built in the water to resemble a boat. The entire structure was wood but was hand painted to look like white marble. It was shaped like a double decker steamer, with a small fake steam wheel and everything.

I now had 20 minutes until the Palace closed and I had to see the top of that Temple. Pushing my way along the corridor I found the entrance to the temple courtyard. The audio tried to play telling me about it, but I had already read the book, so I rushed through (which really through off the timing on the RFID.) 

The stairs leading up to the main Pagoda were in a series of six switchbacks which each climvbed three stories. There was another staircase that went through an overhead, open air corridor up the side of the temple. It was a single staircase all the way to the top…that was the route I chose.

Taking the steps two at a time and running most of the way, I felt like a Brtish soldier trying to capture the palace. In fact, if I were going to invade a palace and take it as my own, I wouldn’t mind taking the Summer Palace. It is just so colorful and opulent, I really think it might be one of the prettiest castles I’ve seen.

And with 10 minutes to spare…I did it! I made it to the terrace of the Incense Pagoda that towered over the entire lake and palace. And it was beautiful! The Buddha inside was tall and had multiple arms like some sort of Hindu goddess. From the Terrace, you could see the mountains to the right and the skyline of Beijing to the left. Overhead, there was a brilliant blue sky (which my journal tells me I’ve seen 4 times now in China.)

I went back down the normal stair case that switch backed on the front of the complex. I still felt like a total warrior for making it up those stairs—and in the nick of time. On the way down, some kids and a few girls asked to take their photo with me. I agreed, before pushing my way through the crowd back out the main exit.

I passed on the rickshaw going back to the metro. Instead, I stopped at McDonalds for a soft serve ice cream cone. Sitting at a table outside, I noticed everyone who walked by laughed at the way I was licking the ice cream. I don’t know if I am just a funny ice cream eater, or if there is a different technique in China…but I don’t really care, it was so nice and refreshing.

When I got back to my hostel, I tried talking with the concierge to book a tour to the Ming Tombs. She said it was not possible without going to the Badaling section of the wall, which is the touristy part I fought like crazy to avoid. I did a little googling and a little emailing to try and find a different tour, but with no luck. Everyone either needed more notice or wanted to take me to the wall first. Since I’ve booked a tour to go to the Jin Ling Tomb in Xi’an later this week, I decided to just skip the Ming Tombs. I think tomorrow will be Temple Day for me in Beijing.

With that in mind, I went next door to get dinner. After wards, I came back and texted with Vivi for a bit before settling in to journal. I’m realizing in a lot of ways, backpacking China (specifically these two weeks alone) is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It has been hard physically, mentally, and emotionally. I’ve been dehydrated, lost, alone, confused, misunderstood, frustrated, homesick, and tired almost constantly. But I’ve also seen so much history, met some cool people, done some amazing things I never dreamed of. It really feels like an adventure…exploring the wild, wild East.

Tomorrow is my last day in Beijing. Not sure what stories it will bring, but I am excited to find out.