The Summer Palace is beautiful. Very relaxing and cooler that our other visits today. It is just like in the states. People here just come to the park to relax. There are great boat rides across the water. The lake was man made. It is not all that deep but you cannot swim in it beacuse of all the weeds. We were told that many people die trying to swimm in it because they get entanged in the weeds. It is also very smoggy here. It is sad to see what the polution has done to the view here. You can only imagine how incredible it must have been once.
This is the place built for the young Emporer who was six when he took the throne. Basically, China was ran by a woman during his rein. His mother insisted that she take care of her son. She sat behind him and told him what to do. She used te Navy's money to build this palace. So, China was defenseless by sea during this time and other countries took advantage of that.
This evening we also went to Peking Duck dinner. It was okay. I have enjoyed trying the new food. Most I just don't care for. It is not the spices, but things taste greasy to me. It is interesting, they give you a VERY small plate, chop sticks, a fork (just for us "Americans"), a soup bowl and soup spoon. Then all the food is put on a lazy susan. Our table uses their chop sticks actually to eat. We do however take advantage of the forks. You see, you are to take what you want from the dishes with your chop stcks. In America, we call that "double dipping". You see with a plate the size of a saucer, you have to eat some before you get some more. So, we use the forks to dish out our food. Interesting side note, they serve their soup last here.
