Today I travelled to the outskirts of Beijing to visit The Summer Palace. Ever since an Emperor made Beijing the country's capital nearly a whole millennium ago this site has been important but most of what can be found there today was built in the 18th century.
The site includes an absolutely huge lake that was entirely man-made. Nads and I hired a pedalo and spent nearly an hour on the water and we only got round the tiniest part. It was a pretty grand place and full of lots of impressive Chinese style buildings and artwork. It was also pretty knackering walking over the hill you can see both on the way in and the way out! Good training for The Great Wall.
Did You Know?: In the late 19th century, Empress Dowager Cixi stole funds from the Chinese Navy to do up the palace as a holiday home to spend the rest of her life in!
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