Monday, May 30, 2005

Beijing 300305g: The Summer Palace

After a tiring half-day trip to the Great Wall in Badaling, we head back towards Beijing and short of 12km of downtown, we stop at another major attraction: The Summer Palace. Dating back from the 17th century Qing Dynasty, it is regarded as the largest and best-preserved royal garden in China. I've been to the top 17th century Japanese imperial garden in Kanazawa so I'm keen to see if the Chinese one can top that!
Entrance is at 20 yuan per person, and again no touts to harass you. However it is such a popular place that even on a work-day, tourist groups abound, each normally distinguished by the caps their members are wearing, and its unique flag-totting guide.
We take advantage of these groups by 'attaching' ourselves to English-speaking guides. We also latch onto an Indonesian group and I jokingly ask the tour leader, boleh tambah dua? He says, boleeeehhh!
[100 yuan = RM47]