National Week Adventures

When I first found out about our week-long holiday (National Week), I made lots of plans for sightseeing and getting things done. Of course when the actual holiday arrived, much less got done than was planned. Part of it had to do with Daniel being sick, and another part of it was just us being lazy. In the end, our holiday basically involved a frustrating trip to IKEA, a stroll around a beautiful park (that I didn't get any pictures of), and a visit to the amazing Summer Palace, which happened to fall on Daniel's birthday. However, the Summer Palace is the only thing that's really worth elaborating upon.

Summer Palace - On our last day of the holiday (go figure), Daniel and I visited the Summer Palace with a few of our coworkers from Best Learning. I had seen many pictures of the palace and I was really excited to go. Even though the weather was terrible that day (the fog was everywhere and made it difficult to take good pictures), we really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful structures. Of course the area was huge, and there was a lot of walking involved (which meant joining a long, slow procession of people in order to get around) but the sights we saw and the company we had completely made up for it.

What's Up, Duck?

One of the first things we saw at the Summer Palace was this 18-meter-tall duck (above). Apparently, a Dutch artist named Florentijn Hofman created it, and it's been traveling the world since 2007. It will remain in Beijing until the 27th of October.

Birthday boy and me at the Summer Palace

Summer Palace View

Spotted: Cutie at the Palace

To the right, Daniel and I are standing in front of the Tower of Buddhist Incense, which is the most popular building. Inside sits a giant Buddha, but I got yelled at in Chinese as soon as I took my camera out, so I couldn't get a picture.

On the top left is a view from the tower. Even with bad weather, the view is amazing! 





One of the things I was most looking forward to seeing was the Marble Boat inside the Palace. It took us a long time to find it because the place is so big, but we eventually found it sitting calmly on the lake. Of course it's not actually made of marble but of wood and it isn't a real boat. We were disappointed to find that we couldn't get on it, but we enjoyed looking at it all the same.

Marble Boat

Marble Boat

Daniel for Dinner

Besides the Marble Boat and the Tower of Buddhist Incense, there were several other interesting things inside the Palace. Many sculptures adorn the place, such as the dragon (eating Daniel's head) to the right. Additionally, we found a great set of beautiful bridges (below). 

As we were walking around the grounds, Daniel and I got stopped three or four times by Chinese people asking to take pictures with us. I never know if the correct response is to be weirded out or flattered, but most of the time I'm flattered. Since we've gotten here, we've gotten lots of stares and I've gotten way more compliments than I've ever gotten in America! 

Love on the Bridge

Hanging out on the bridge

Walking around the palace grounds made for a great adventure, and that night we had to celebrate Daniel's birthday! We decided to go to La Bamba, a "Mexican" restaurant we had discovered the night before. We ate a heaping plate of nachos, chimichangas and enjoyed a small keg with some of our coworkers from Best Learning. Happy 29th Birthday, Daniel! It's actually the first one of his birthdays that we've gotten to spend together, and that again reminds me of how thankful I am that we are living out this great adventure together. So all in all, we didn't do much but spent the day that mattered (Daniel's birthday) at a beautiful location and with great company. What more could we ask for?

Dinner at La Bamba

Cheers!