Summer Palace (頤和園 - Yíhéyuán)

October-November 2008

Another attraction of Beijing — is a Summer Palace of Emperors. I decided to get there by subway. For this I came to the terminal station Bagou of the 10th line of the subway. From there one has to go about 500 meters to the west to the river Wanquan and along it under the bridge of the 4th transport ring another 500 meters to the north-west. There you will see entrance to the Yihe yuan park, but remember that it is another 3 km from it to the Longevity Hill, on which the palace is standing, if you go along the dyke, and along the eastern shore of the lake Kunming — it is 2.5 km. There were very few people near Bagou station but I met a couple of foreigners that was looking for the road to the Summer Palace.

If the southern part of the park was calm, beautiful and cosy, its northern part just crowded with tourists in euphoria. I think that Sunday is not the best day for visiting the Summer Palace.

Site of the park: http://www.summerpalace-china.com/en/

For 1 yuan I took a bus 718 to get from the park Yihe yuan to the subway Haidian Huangzhuang. In the bus I got acquainted with an Egyptian radiologist doctor, with whom we discussed Chinese and basic religions of the world. At the same time on his camera he produced to me his own pictures in Beijing for the last 6 days and his family in Egypt. It is pleasant to find someone in China who understands you.