Summer Palace

I think China believes if beds are harder than asphalt you will sleep better- I beg to differ. Perhaps they wouldn't need to do as much tai chi if they just invested in some memory foam.

I woke up this morning at 530 am with my stomach growling, totally starving- story of my life (this is obviously Kristen :) We ate breakfast at our hostel www.redlanternhouse.com and then set off to find the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a sprawling imperial encampment full of temples, gardens, pavilions, with a beautiful lake at the center. The empress would travel there to get away from the forbidden city. It is so picturesque. There are beautiful Asian dragon boats gliding across the lake with massive red and gold temples on hills in the distance. We wandered the grounds for hours, through long outdoor corridors and up slippery rock paths. Side note: Its been sprinkling on and off since we arrived which is really nice because its only in the high 70's and not too humid ( though equally bad news for my hair).On our way out of the grounds we took one of the dragon boats back across Kunming lake. The Summer Palace was definitely the most beautiful sight we've been to in Beijing so far.

Earlier tonight we met up with our tour group for the first time. The people are from Australia, Germany, Colombia, England, and the US. They all seem super fun and sweet. Tomorrow we are waking up early to do a walking tour of the hutongs, shop at the Silk Market, and maybe see the Olympic sites!

Off to bed now,zai-jian!

D and K