China Trip - Day 1 - Beijing
I arrived in Beijing yesterday, as part of a Harvey Mudd College alumni trip to see the solar eclipse that's coming up on July 21.
It's a very organized tour, which of course means that the days are very jam-packed with sightseeing, and because it's an astronomy tour, the nights are full of lectures. Last night we were waiting for the rest of the tour group to arrive (most of the people from Mudd got stuck in Mongolia for four hours, so I was glad I got an earlier flight) and I went with a couple of other people to see a Chinese acrobatic show. Well worth going to, but unfortunately I didn't think to take my camera (apparently photography was allowed, even though I didn't expect that.)
This morning, we took a trip out to see some of the sites from the days of the empire. The first stop was the Forbidden City:
Me at the Forbidden City
This was where the emperors and their concubines and servants lived for the last couple of dynasties. This picture is from the front section, where officials came and visited (the back section has some courtyard houses where the concubines lived, and some nice gardens.)
Our next stop was the Summer Palace:
Me at the Summer Palace
This palace was built by one of the emperors for his mother's 60th birthday, and is where the imperial family spent the summers. My advice is to separate from your tour group and explore some of the pathways up the hills... While it's a bit rocky and rough, there are some nice secluded buildings up there, and you get to avoid the crowds and get some nice peace and quiet. And you not only get a view of the buildings that isn't inundated with people, you also get to look at them from a different angle.
The Summer Palace