August 11, 2010 Touring Beijing: The Summer Palace and Olympic Park

 

We met our guide Fanfang this morning at 11:45 am and she took us to a beautiful Traditional Chinese Restaurant for lunch.  It was tucked down an alley way and we were the only Westerners in the restaurant.  We were quite the spectacle!  We had some yummy Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Stir Fried Rice with Bean Sprouts and an order of Sauteed Snow Peas. The food was really, really good.  Then we hopped on the subway and headed to the Summer Palace.  The subway system in Beijing is the mode of transportation used by most people.  It was quite an experience and Caroline absolutely loved it as she loves any kind of train!  We made about 3 transfers so it was some serious train hopping on and off that we did with Gailie, Caroline and the stroller in tow.  Some of the stops on the train would get super crowded...seriously like sardines!  You did not have one inch to move at all.  Most of the time folks that had a seat would offer Fangfang their seat to sit with Caroline because the folks, in general, assumed that Caroline was her daughter.  This is so strange to me.  I have some thoughts on this but I don't have time to go into it right now...more on that later! 

 

The Summer Palace is about 6 miles outside Beijing.  It is where the Emperors and Empresses would come to live during the summer months to get out of the city.  It is on a beautiful man-made lake called Kunming Lake.  The dirt excavated to form the lake was then used to build up the hills making it a very hilly and scenic refuge from the heat and city for the royalty.  The setting is park like with all of the different trees and landscaping labeled with the names of the plants.  The winding paths of stone are very ornate (and not great for the stroller!)  Actually, we got quite a workout ourselves walking the hills here and we were reminded that the Emperors/Empresses did not actually walk these paths...their servants carried them on a platform with a comfy chair atop! 

 

The Kunming Lake takes up about 3/4 of the area known as the Summer Palace...so it is a pretty large lake.  We rented a paddle boat and cruised around the lake for a bit.  Sean, Gailie and I took turns paddling.  It was windy out on the lake so paddling the boat was pretty hard work.  Once we were out there we saw that there were little motorized boats for rent as well...obviously, we didn't see the rental for these!!!  Oh well, I guess we can say we have had the full experience...and it was great exercise...I just hope we can walk tomorrow!! 

 

After the Summer Palace, we hopped back on the subway and headed to a restaurant known to be Beijing's largest Christian Restaurant.  It is called The Upper Room: Rainbow Cafe.  Fangfang said that it is owned by a Christian boss and 3 nights a week they have a band that plays worship music in Chinese. The decor is different than the other restaurants we have been too...it is not the traditional Chinese decor in red and gold.   The food was very interesting.  We ordered some fried shrimp and when it was served it was a plate of tiny shrimp that had been cooked in their shell.  Sean and Gailie asked if how we would peel them...Fangfang chuckled a bit and said you don't peel them...you just eat them whole.  This meant the head and eyeballs and tail and all.  I told Sean that I couldn't believe that I ate shrimp eyeballs and he just kept saying...don't worry, they were tiny eyeballs!  Then they served the chicken which was a baked whole chicken wrapped in lotus leaves.  When Fangfang began to unwrap the chicken, Sean and I were prepared, as we have seen how chicken is cooked in China...but Gailie and Caroline were a bit shocked when they saw that the chicken still had his head and neck attached to his body!!  I wish I had a picture of my Mom's face!  Then Fangfang started to try and move the chicken head and neck out of the way, so that she could serve the meat from the chicken breasts.  She was pretty forceful with the chicken head/neck...and Caroline said "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!  The chicken said that hurts!"  Sean, Gailie and I could not help but burst out laughing!  It was just so funny and innocent.

 

After dinner, we took at taxi to Olympic Park where we walked around ans saw the Bird's Nest Stadium and the beautiful blue Water Cube.  Caroline fell asleep before we got to Olympic Park.  She had been so excited about seeing the Olympic Rings but she was dead asleep...so we just took her picture in the stroller in front of the rings.  That way at least she knows that she was there.