Beijing Day 2 (Summer Palace)

Woke up early again the next morning and went over to the Summer Palace now that Ms. Obama wasn't there and crowds were less.  The summer palace is a huge complex about 9 miles outside the city (northwest) just past Peking University.  There is a huge lake in the middle which I walked around, as I arrived around 7am with 2 hours before the buildings opened up to visit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

This is near the beginning of the east entrance, a short walk from the subway:

 And another:

 Some cool rocks:

 China has some really nice Cherry Blossom trees:

 More greenery in the courtyard

 At lake, which I walked around (seemed like I walked 3-4 miles this day around the complex):

 Another one from different angle:

Nice reflection.  Around 7:30am I think: 

 Looked like a large fortress.  Also, there's part of the longest corridor in the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Corridor

 Lots of people pretty early in the morning.  The people were good about getting exercise and walking around:

 Continuing to walk:

 Reflection and architecture is pretty cool

Looking down from atop a bridge: 

 Through a neat window:

 More:

 Walkway

 Bridge 1:

 Bridge 2:

 Bridge 3:

More reflections: 

 Nice nature, west side of the lake:

 Walking along west side of lake, looking away from the lake onto a pond:

 Trees:

 More cherry trees:

 Blooming:

 Looking back at the main structure:

 Cool bridge:

 Another cool bridge:

By 9am or so the lake was bustling  with boats carring tourists from one side to the other:

 Very intricate:

 Looking out from main building:

 Backside of the complex (north side)

 north side again:

 River village, lots of shops down here:

 Walking around the river village:

 More:

 More:

 Walking back now to east entrance:

 Theater:

 Back at the Airbnb place, taking pics of some of the covered motorcycles or whatever these are here:

Packed up my stuff and headed back with a screen shot of the map towards the Ron Yard hotel.  Unfortunately, Google was off by about a half mile and no one knew where Ron Yard was when I went there.  I lose cell phone power, and find a nice man who thinks he knows where I'm going.  Brings me to a hostel where one person knows a little English.  She is very nice and we eventually find the hotel and she escorts me there through the back alleys of the hutongs (Chinese neighborhoods).  Met up with the group who arrived from Chicago and then went to dinner.  Ate some good noodles and also some donkey meat sandwiches, pretty delicious.

Beijing - Day 1

Chicago to Seoul, then to Beijing (going over the Arctic then around the backside of N. Korea.

Landed in Seoul - Korean Air was fantastic

As was the airport, with a parade of traditional Korean people, an orchestra playing, free massage chairs, recliners, and movies, along with some great Korean food.

Got to Beijing tired, took the train to Dongzhimen station and stayed a block from the mall at a place I found on Airbnb.  Went to bed.  First day, woke up at 4am.  The day was the only clear day on the whole trip (pollution and rain the rest).  

On the way to the first stop, bought some street food, this egg, lettuce, and meat breakfast sandwich which was spicy-ish and good.  Later in the day this place was packed with street food vendors with fruit and this really good glazed strawberry thing on a stick along with another region-specific, reddish fruit which was sweet but looked like a small tomato.  Very good...

Here, in the Temple of Heaven park, elderly people are doing exercises on the equipment, playing games such as kicking a feather ball (hackey-sack type game), singing traditional music, or playing instruments.

Long corridor where Chinese people gathered to play and socialize.  Card games were very popular.  

Entered into the main Temple of Heaven complex.

Once again, a little closer.  In this building the ruler made prayers for grains and crops I believe.

Closer up.  Nice architecture and details.

Looking down from the building above to another.

The side of the building.

The center of the building.

Again, the main building but also note the work on the railings.

Gates

Cool door knob.  Can't find that at Home Depot.

This door was built for the ruler who was old and needed a quicker entrance / exit.  However, after the initial use, it became known as the 70 year door as people only over 70 years could use it.

Some of this stuff was super old.  Some of the artifacts were 7,000+ years old.  The oldest pottery found in China was believed to be about 18,000 years old.

Main walk up to the building.

View from inside a side building

Walking south and looking back to the structure

Old tree.

Another part of the Temple of Heaven Complex.

Nine is a lucky number in China.  The center stone of this complex was surrounded by 9 stones in the first rung and 81 in the last ring in the top circle.

Cool dragons

Another cool building - a lot of China has this type of architecture...while it is present in the historical sites, many buildings have it too.  Many buildings also don't use nails. The word for nails in Chinese also means death...so...

Used to be a nice moat I bet.

Walking back through park looking at the main structure again.

Should've taken some pictures of the Pearl Market where I went to next.  Its right across the street from this park and next to the Subway.  Bought some silk clothes.  My first negotiation I realized after went bad, and bought for way too much.  All the rest of the negotiations went well.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294212-d321012-Reviews-Pearl_Market_Hongqiao_Market-Beijing.html

Next, took subway over to the Summer Palace.  Got stuck in a large crowd.  Turns out Michelle Obama was in town.  Couldn't get through or in.  Waste of a couple hours or so but a good workout walking there and back.  These cars are all part of her entourage.  Thousands of people were just waiting around the site.

Took subway to the Olympic complex.  By this time, I'm tired of walking.  Here's the pool.  Probably cool at night.

And the stadium.

Bird's Nest I believe...

Went home and rest after this long day.  Never felt unsafe in Beijing.  Subways had English on them.  Used broken Chinese but would have been tough to get around either without internet or knowing a little Chinese.