Day 6 - The Summer Palace, etc

You might be under the impression that while I'm here in these foreign lands, I probably do not speak the language, know anyone, will always be lost and .. alone. Quite the contrary!

1. I am fluent in pointing
2. Ever hear the saying, "If you've shaken one hand .. " (or 7? I don't recall. But by some permutation, I've shaken everyone's hand). We're all old friends.
3. You have to get lost to be found.
4. Every time someone runs into me, I make a connection that is never lost. I used to say "Dui bu chi" (excuse me/sorry!) anytime I thought I was inconveniencing someone. Then I realized that everyone is out for themselves and the only reason you'd have to say Excuse Me to someone is if you're standing over their cold, lifeless body.

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I woke up to a sunny, clear blue sky today. I'm told that Beijing has about 5 days of blue skies a year. Like London, with 100x the humidity. I decided to make my way to the Summer Palace; north-west of the city, it is situated around the Kunming Lake and was the summer getaway for the Royal Family when the Forbidden City heat became unbearable.

Again, I boarded a bus on which I was required to tell them my destination. And again, I replied with a shrug. I really don't know where I'm going most of the time, don't people get on buses and decide where they want to go later?? To be honest, I couldn't pronounce Summer Palace in Chinese ..

Once there and through the gates, I noticed that the palace was undergoing a lot of renovations in preparation for the Olympics. They are re-painting EVERY temple in this city with the same patterns, its really a shame. A new friend of mine, who is an Architecture student, also mentioned that they aren't taking care to preserve the old structures, but are rebuilding them instead.

I then made the mistake of walking around the entire lake, at least 3 mi/5k around. I think I'm becoming weaker and weaker as the days go by; first the unbearable Great Wall, now difficulty walking 3 miles?? I think its the heat - its only 90 deg, but the humidity makes it around 105.

I don't have much else to say about the Summer Palace. Its a nice scenic destination, and you shouldn't go in the middle of summer because -- guess what -- after a while, all pagodas begin to look alike (it really takes about 2 to get a good idea). Also, if you are told something will take a day to "really appreciate" - heed this advice as a warning. Appreciation is something like .. "now that I've seen it once, I will never come here again". I'm kiiiiiding. But you know what I'm getting at.

Not knowing how to get back, I got on the first bus that passed me by because it was way too hot to stand on the corner. This time, I was armed with the one word I can pronounce correctly -- Xizhimen! I don't think that meant anything. But 45 minutes later, I was dropped off on an unpaved dirt alleyway, next to a watermelon stand. You know how you're supposed to just start running once you jump off a moving train (my brother would know); I apply this saying to just about everything, "just keep moving". So I started walking. And walking. And then I came to a dead end .. but there was a hole in the fence, so I kept walking.

Eventually I made it back to my hostel; from there the Beijing Opera. I don't know if I was still irritable from from all the walking .. but I couldn't sit through more than 30 minutes (10 minutes and I was ready to burst) before walking out. I later learned that it was geared toward foreigners, with lots of acrobatics vs. subdued themes and tolerable singing @ a more reputable Beijing theatre. Oh well.