I am slowly catching up on the weekend sightseeing as the internet in the hotel has not been very stable…

After the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square I went to the Summer Palace the next day. The Summer Palace was the ‘summer playground’ of the emperor and his family. Needless to say that it was a huge playground consisting of a mix of beautiful temples, gardens, pavilions and corridors at respectively around Kunming Lake. While I am certain it can be a very peaceful place, it was the opposite on the weekend.

And you would not believe it, but from the top of Longevity Hill – the center piece of Summer Palace that you reach by climbing up 365 stairs – you can actually see the ‘end’ of the city of Beijing. And it takes only about 60 minutes by train from the city center to get there…

The Lama Temple, second stop of the day, is less spectacular. Or maybe it just depends on the order in which you visit the sites. To be fair, the Lama Temple consists of five halls and three archways and is one of the most magnificent Tibetan Buddhist temples outside Tibet itself. It is still active these days, however, tourists clearly outnumber the monks.

Take a look at the pictures of day if you feel like.