Day 17: Beijing - Summer Palace - Oct 6, 2009

For most people, last night was the end of their trip in China, but a couple of people still had a bit more time, so Sarah, Monica, Alex and I went off for the day to the Summer Palace, a vast park, about 200 hectares in size, two-thirds filled with the enormous Kunming Lake, and the rest crowded with palace temples, gardens, pavilions, corridors, and of course, people! Everyone who was in Tiananmen Square the other day was at the Summer Palace today! I'm sure I've said it before, but you can't even begin to imagine the crowds.

The buildings and architecture was absolutely exquisite with delicate paintings, and rich blue and gold artwork everywhere. Most of the buildings were ordered by the Empress Cixi who was supposed to spend the money on a navy, but instead spent it on herself! She did build herself a big boat out of marble that sits on the edge of the lake - does that count?

Adelene and I said goodbye to the last couple of people and began our last week on tour with our guide, Tomic. It seems a bit strange, just being the two of us, almost like we were supposed to go home with everyone else. But we're kind of looking forward to a slightly less hectic pace.

Our final overnight train trip was a bit different to all the others, as our hard sleeper carriages were quite nice - carpetted throughout, the ends of the beds had walls blocking them from the corridors and the luggage racks were enclosed for each section and weren't accessible from the corridor making it more secure. The train trips have always been super noisy, but this one was quieter, and one Chinese lady even told me at 8.15pm to be quiet which Adelene and I thought funny since it had always been the Chinese who are always screaming, and obviously I was really not being loud at all. Lights went out at 9.55pm, and the trip was one of the smoothest - no jolting at all, which was nice.