summer palace

went with two ladies from my hostel (irish and signapore/thai) to the summer palace in the north west of the city. my god what a beautiful and relaxing place. maybe it is because it was the first time since i came to china that i could find myself in any sort of seclusion or hear birds instead of jackhammers but the place was huge and had a giant lake and a series of gorgeous imperial palaces atop a very large hill. if the chinese are good at anything it is the sculpting of nature. the landscape architecture was so uniform and eerily constructed but on a colossal scale too. i don’t know, think of a bonsai tree the size of high park with paths, canals, a lake with an island and intricately detailed thousand year old buildings placed symmetrically around the pot. add some distant flute playing on the wind and a few cute kids chasing squirrels into bamboo thickets. there you have it – the summer palace. i think i really messed up my ankle more too. so much walking.


lots of bamboo at the summer palace