This is actually my second trip to Summer Palace. I never blogged about the first round. It is obviously amazing if I returned. I am in love with this place. It is absolutely breathtaking. Summer Palace is 720 acres, three of which is the Kunming Lake in its center.
Summer Palace is exactly what it sounds like... This is where the emperors and their families would come for the summers back when China was ran by dynasties. There is a lot of history here and a lot of ground to cover. I honestly just enjoy the scenery.
More than 500 of the 720 acres of Summer Palace is made up of Kunming Lake. I don't know what it is about bodies of water since I've moved to China, but seeing water always thrills me. It's such a rarity when you live in such a large city.
Unfortunately, the pollution level was at 300% today so it was unbelievably smoggy today. My roommate and I have already seen Summer Palace and insisted on returning with out friend because she had to see how beautiful it was. It was still just as beautiful as before, but without the sun glistening over the lake and lighting the entire clear blue sky surrounding the lake, you can't appreciate the palace in its entirety.
On a sunny day, if you look out onto the Kunming Lake, you can see the endless acres that surround it. You can see old men fishing along the ledge. The lake is full of tourists in paddle boats. The sun reflects the mountains in the distance on the water's surface. The vast lily pads that cover the north side of the lake can be seen from yards away.
Here are some pictures from my first trip to Summer Palace...
Now, here are some photos from today's dreary weather. Of course we still made the best of the journey.
We stopped for our picnic lunch along the bank of the Kunming Lake. We then ventured to toward the exit to take on our next trek of the day: Fragrant Hills.
I would like to officially rename this lovely hiking spot as Fragrant Kills. The reason it is called "Fragrant" is because there is nothing but the smell of blood, sweat and tears. I am a runner and am by no means out of shape, so I thought, but this journey made me feel a solid 67.
We arrived and journeyed straight to the trails. This was no ordinary hike through dirt, sticks and hills. Someone, with a lot of energy and desire to torture future visitors, had the idea to build a stone staircase right up to the top of the hill. Essentially, I climbed roughly 5,000 steps today.
Obviously this is an exaggeration, but I didn't exactly have the energy to get an accurate count. :)
Somehow, I pushed through and made it to the top. I honestly wasn't sure at certain points. Not only were there countless stairs, but they were at a steady incline. BRUTAL!
There was a lift along side the trail that we followed up. The only thing in our future were stairs for miles it seemed. The highest point that we could see was a temple of sorts at the peak of the hill. That became our goal and I never thought I'd reach said building. When I saw it, I reached the last step and bowed to the structure in front of me, speechless I'd finally reached the top. We were victorious!
It was a tough hike, but boy was it incredible. Except the time I thought I was going to sit and wait for my two friends to come back down and when I turned around I was thousands of feet in the mountains and nearly stroked out. The only option was up at that point.
At the top, when we looked out, it was hard to see anything through the smog. The mountains opposite us, were barely visible, and more gray, than green in color. Below we could make out a smudge of the location where our journey had begun. Between the smog and the height, I'm not sure which was more of a factor in why we couldn't see anything. Probably the smog... Regardless, it felt amazing to be at the top, and despite the 300% pollution in the air, the view was beautiful. I imagine it is spectacular when the sun is shining and the smog clears.
Red tags hang from the trees at the top of Xianglu Peak (where we were) signed by survivors of the climb. Quite a cool concept. Of course we found a blah one to sign our names on. :)
We began to journey back down and took a 15 minute bus ride back to a subway, then set out for our hour train ride home. Shuangjiang seemed like a destination we'd never reach, but here I am struggling to write this all down before I forget and pass out.
Summer Palace is exactly what it sounds like... This is where the emperors and their families would come for the summers back when China was ran by dynasties. There is a lot of history here and a lot of ground to cover. I honestly just enjoy the scenery.
More than 500 of the 720 acres of Summer Palace is made up of Kunming Lake. I don't know what it is about bodies of water since I've moved to China, but seeing water always thrills me. It's such a rarity when you live in such a large city.
Unfortunately, the pollution level was at 300% today so it was unbelievably smoggy today. My roommate and I have already seen Summer Palace and insisted on returning with out friend because she had to see how beautiful it was. It was still just as beautiful as before, but without the sun glistening over the lake and lighting the entire clear blue sky surrounding the lake, you can't appreciate the palace in its entirety.
On a sunny day, if you look out onto the Kunming Lake, you can see the endless acres that surround it. You can see old men fishing along the ledge. The lake is full of tourists in paddle boats. The sun reflects the mountains in the distance on the water's surface. The vast lily pads that cover the north side of the lake can be seen from yards away.
Here are some pictures from my first trip to Summer Palace...
Now, here are some photos from today's dreary weather. Of course we still made the best of the journey.
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| The story behind this marble boat is one of the former emperoresses didn't like boats, but for whatever reason she had this boat build of marble to keep here. |
We stopped for our picnic lunch along the bank of the Kunming Lake. We then ventured to toward the exit to take on our next trek of the day: Fragrant Hills.
I would like to officially rename this lovely hiking spot as Fragrant Kills. The reason it is called "Fragrant" is because there is nothing but the smell of blood, sweat and tears. I am a runner and am by no means out of shape, so I thought, but this journey made me feel a solid 67.
We arrived and journeyed straight to the trails. This was no ordinary hike through dirt, sticks and hills. Someone, with a lot of energy and desire to torture future visitors, had the idea to build a stone staircase right up to the top of the hill. Essentially, I climbed roughly 5,000 steps today.
Obviously this is an exaggeration, but I didn't exactly have the energy to get an accurate count. :)
Somehow, I pushed through and made it to the top. I honestly wasn't sure at certain points. Not only were there countless stairs, but they were at a steady incline. BRUTAL!
There was a lift along side the trail that we followed up. The only thing in our future were stairs for miles it seemed. The highest point that we could see was a temple of sorts at the peak of the hill. That became our goal and I never thought I'd reach said building. When I saw it, I reached the last step and bowed to the structure in front of me, speechless I'd finally reached the top. We were victorious!
It was a tough hike, but boy was it incredible. Except the time I thought I was going to sit and wait for my two friends to come back down and when I turned around I was thousands of feet in the mountains and nearly stroked out. The only option was up at that point.
At the top, when we looked out, it was hard to see anything through the smog. The mountains opposite us, were barely visible, and more gray, than green in color. Below we could make out a smudge of the location where our journey had begun. Between the smog and the height, I'm not sure which was more of a factor in why we couldn't see anything. Probably the smog... Regardless, it felt amazing to be at the top, and despite the 300% pollution in the air, the view was beautiful. I imagine it is spectacular when the sun is shining and the smog clears.
Red tags hang from the trees at the top of Xianglu Peak (where we were) signed by survivors of the climb. Quite a cool concept. Of course we found a blah one to sign our names on. :)
We began to journey back down and took a 15 minute bus ride back to a subway, then set out for our hour train ride home. Shuangjiang seemed like a destination we'd never reach, but here I am struggling to write this all down before I forget and pass out.
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| Looks like dusk, but it's actually about 3:30 p.m. |
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| Fragrant Hills is said to be most beautiful in November, further into the fall when the leaves have all changed. |
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| We followed the lift to the top. You can't even see our final destination from here. |
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| View from the top. Between height and smog, you can see nothing. I can't imagine how beautiful this is on a sunny day. |
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| Really stoked I made it to the top! |
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| The signed red tags. |
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| This is my reenactment of what I did when I reached the top :) |
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| headed down. Goodbye stairs! |
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