Summer Palace

On April 3rd we went for the first time to the Summer Palace.  It is a real shame it took us almost a year to visit.  I've already been back once and plan to make it a regular stop.

The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.

It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy, into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace. A bit cheeky, wouldn't you say?

We entered into the East Entrance and walked along the Long Corridor.  It is a covered walkway built in 1750.  It is famous for its length (728 m) in conjunction with its rich painted decoration (more than 14,000 paintings).  The corridor was constructed so that the emperor's mother could enjoy a walk through the gardens protected from the elements.

One Year of Signs

We have now been here one year and have seen our share of bad translations.  Here's a few of our favorites.

This Roller Coast is NOT suitable for psychopaths!  Good to know!

Sign on our way up in a gondola

How do you actually unrecycle?

So we can't do ANYTHING fun?

Danger!  Deep Water?  Where?!?

I can understand the relics but the railings???

This is due to most of the Chinese squatting over holes ... not used to sitting on toilets.

At bottom - "No tips, no sexy"

Where the Hell is Matt?

On February 20th, Fiona, Isla & I went to see Matt Harding, the infamous dancer from the fabulous Youtube video in Beijing.  If you've never seen his video, click to know why I would bundle the girls to go out in the cold on a Saturday to dance with him.

Here's a video montage on Youtube where if you look in the beginning, you'll see me with the 2 girls walking (both in pink down coats, I'm in beige) and at the end, you'll see Isla on the left side in purple NOT dancing!  She is the only kid not dancing and she kept running over to me.  Fiona refused to participate and I couldn't dance b/c I had to film the video (ya know I never miss a chance to dance and/or make a fool of myself in public).

Isla in Purple on the Left

It was a lot of fun and I can always say Isla wrecked Matt's Beijing video by NOT dancing!

Was it Worth it? Not sure but it was a fun night!

(Wrote this over a month ago but forgot to click send.)

So I have been lapse in many of my duties over the last 2 months...not writing on this blog, check...not skyping my friends & family, check...not completely focused on all that Beijing has to offer, double check.  The reason for this can all be traced back to November 10th when I went to a meeting called the BSB Ball Planning Meeting.  Oh, if I had only been sick or if I'd liked my fellow Parent Association cohorts just a little less ...

There is a suburb of Beijing called Shunyi.  And in Shunyi is the other campus of the British School of Beijing.  I'm on the downtown PA Board and we were planning a Charity Ball with the PA of Shunyi.  I'd like to think we all said 'yes' b/c the pressure was there to say something and we didn't know any better to run screaming in the other direction.

I begrudgingly signed up to be on the Entertainment Committee and the Silent Auction committee.  I am not going to bore you with all the things that went wrong along the way but it was mainly a frustrating experience dealing with the 'other' group of ladies.  Lots of headaches, hair pulling, massive email debates and terrible leadership.

But there is a happy ending.  The Ball was a lot of fun and the other guests didn't seem to notice the things that didn't go quite as planned.  And the plus to all the complaining and moaning and venting is my 3 fellow downtown organizers and I bonded against the Shunyi organizers and are as thick as thieves.  And looking fantabulous, I might add.  ;-)

Oh and we also raised 110,000RMB ($17,000) for our charity of choice...ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital.  I should have probably have mentioned that before the 'fantabulous' part....

Are the Evil Spirits Gone Yet? Nope...10 more days....

Fireworks were invented in ancient China in the 12th century to scare away evil spirits.  Such important events and festivities as Chinese New Year.... were and still are times when fireworks are guaranteed sights.  China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world. - Quoted from Wikipedia

Fireworks ARE guaranteed sights at the moment...and sounds....and smells....and sleepless night....and amazing moments....

You just have to see it to believe it (like many things in China).

Both of these videos were taken from our bedroom windows on the 3rd floor of a high-rise in downtown Beijing.  Please remember this is one corner of a city 10 times the size of Houston with 22 million Chinese people currently trying to ward off those aforementioned evil spirits....i.e. small piece of the big picture.

What I love about the video above is how I started to the right and just kept moving along as more people lit their fuses....I especially loved the fireworks over the major intersection.  I wonder what that bus driver was thinking?

So I leave you with the noise echoing in your ears...please think of us when you go to sleep tonight....in peace....we have 10 more days of this....

p.s.  The craziness is a bit fun...just wish there was an on/off switch.