The Ultimate Vacation Home

On the second way our guide drove us to the Summer Palace, where the emperor and his family (consisting of the empress, his concubines and the eunuchs) would retire to during the summer, to escape the oppressive Beijing heat. Nowadays the imperial family has been replaced by masses of tourists who want to see how the emperor lived and perhaps escape the heat themselves.

The summer palace is like a park, and most of the area is occupied by a giant man-made lake. Around it there are several gardens, temples and the buildings that housed the family. It feels a lot like a maze, especially when you don't have a whole lot of time to explore every building. Of course, we did have time to get ripped off again, when we bought some paintings.