It’s Thursday, the second day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. I worked on Sunday to Tuesday and then had Curriculum Afternoon, where my parents (who Kelly referred to as “sharks”) came to school. We have Wednesday to Friday off, which I’ve referred to as a long weekend, because that’s the only way my brain can make sense of it. Today is “Sunday.”
Today Kelly, Roxanne, and I met at our gate at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. in an attempt to see the Summer Palace before the horrific crowds we’ve read about in all 50 of our Beijing guidebooks. This is an especially tricky time to visit any landmarks, as holidays are a time when everyone in China is on vacation and ready to sight-see. The Summer Palace, from the little to no research that I did, is a place where the Chinese emperor in the 1700’s used as a summer home.
Maybe it was my lack of sleep, but at first when we walked around, breezing by the ancient Chinese architecture and stone statues behind metal gates, I didn’t feel much of anything. Then I caught a glimpse of some water through a window pane. When I went around the corner, the view literally took my breath away. The lake stretched out father than I could see. All around the edge were stone carved railings with temples, houses, arches, and bridges interspersed. Giant lotus plants, with their Lilli pad leaves collected in my nearest corner, stretching and twisting four and a half feet tall. Mountains lined the farthest stretches of the horizon. No one else was in sight.
The sun hung high above the lake and beamed down over it all. I was told by my director that last year there was talk of the Chinese government altering the weather so that the sky was amazingly clear for this holiday. All I know is that Sunday and Monday were rainy and miserable days to bike to school, but yesterday and today have had the clearest skies I’ve seen yet. It was so clear yesterday that Kel and I were able to see a whole mountain range from our dining room table that we’ve never seen before.
We hiked up the “Hill of Longevity” and around the lake, passing temples and illegally climbing rocks to get a better view. At 8:30 we stumbled upon a boat rental dock and decided to go for it. We signed up for a four person battery-powered boat, and that’s what we were given, no questions asked. (Not even, say, have you ever driven a boat? Do you have a license? Do you have any idea what you’re doing?) As we climbed in we were told, “if the boat go slow, go backwards.” I volunteered to be the first driver, nodded to the woman even though I had no clue what she was talking about, and took off.
It was incredible. For 60 RMB (less than $10) we were tooling around on the giant lake. We steered under a 6-arch bridge and right up to many of the other temples and archways we hadn’t made it to on foot. By the end we discovered that the warning had meant, “When you’re not moving because you’re stuck in seaweed and low water, put the boat in reverse and try to get the hell out.” We nearly paid for another hour when we were stuck just 50 yds. from the dock, but luckily we were able to make this translation just in time.
High Point in the Summer Palace: The Temple of Buddha’s…, which reminded me of temples from Malaysia and had a strong energy
Low Point in the Summer Palace: Forgetting to pack food AGAIN! (a.k.a. trying to buy a “hot dog” on a stick from the fast-food counters inside and being waved away by an unsympathetic hand).
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