Beijing in Grey 2

Day 2, we headed to the Summer Palace.

Though named as such, the place resides no palace as it is actually a garden consist of manmade lake and hill. Lake known as Kunming Lake and hill as Longevity Hill. The fact that the lake was manmade hundreds years ago awed me. It is a huge lake ok…. Goodness! China.. China.. China..

Apparently, the English couldn’t find a mean to translate the way Chinese named it, that the vocabulary in describing the lake with peace, good health and the hill with longevity. So, they call it Summer Palace since the garden was always visited by Emperor during summer, something like that.

There is a tale lies beneath The Longevity Hill. It is a hill which was formed from the dirt that was excavated for the lake. Rumor has it that, it was not meant to be when the Emperor wanted the lake. However, during the excavation works, concubine tombs from Ming Dynasty were found. There was a signage shown at the tombs area which read… 

“Do not disturb us.. or we will disturb you till you die” *
hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii hi hi hih....* background sound.

Huaaaaa!!!!!…. So, the project architect cum project manager of the garden development reported to the Emperor of the situation. 

-_________-

The Emperor was terrified himself ! “Aiyak!.. this cannot be..”, he said.

So, he ordered his Project Architect never to disturb the tombs, instead got the force labor to dump more dirt over the tombs and make it as high as possible.

He also ordered for a temple to be built on top of the hill so was to ensure the concubines souls rest in peace even more.  

…. And they live happily ever after…. The End.

Heheheheh.

The Longevity Hill in the background

With or without the tale, I like this place. It is so beautiful. We went there during Winter and it is a picture perfect scene. I could imagine how it would be during Spring, Summer and Autumn. It would be just as beautiful in it’s own way.

All in the shades of Grey in Winter

Specks of Red, Pink, Purple .. would be color full Spring

Blue, Green, Yellow and shining in Summer

Golden, Brownish in Autumn

Summer Palace is also secluded with perimeter wall, I guess about 10~15 ft in height. In winter, it obviously act as the wind breaker which came gushing from the open wide lake. We didn’t realize how bad the wind was when we arrived at outside of SP. But the moment we went inside the cordoned area, it was totally out of control.

The 17 Arches Bridge

If it’s not because of my overweight Body Mass Index, I must have been flown off by the wind. Nada was almost in shock, Harris got to pick her up from the stroller and carried her all the way crossing the 17arch bridge.

It was just so cold, like living in a huge freezer and top up with high speed wind from a giant fan.

Hot Buah berangan dry fried in beans were very much of a joy after being punished by the cold strong wind of Summer Palace.

Mek trying to make the layers of quilt with silk balls

We then visited Silk Factory which is operated by the government and I couldn’t resist myself but to buy the silk quilts. First I thought, one set for us would do since the price is rather steep. It’s about RM700 per set. Then again, Nada should also have one for herself right… So, I bought two sets and there goes 2800yuan. Much of the reason I picture the price here is because it almost gave me a mild heart attack.

My beau accidentally left the quilts in the bus body when we were sent to the airport on last day to depart home. I was busy attending to Nada and he was supposed to take care of the luggage and stuffs. As we enter the airport, I didn’t see my quilts on the trolley so I asked him – “Where’re my quilts?”

He asked me back “Where do you put it?” (It was actually him who did the loading and unloading)

I panicked, because I knew then he must have totally forgot about the quilts, which is so unlikely of him.

I kept on saying : “My quilts! My quilts! My quilts!”

Only then it snapped to him and he went running back to the bus. He ran so fast I believe Usain Bolt has finally has a par rival. 
I do not know if he was afraid more to loosing the quilts or afraid of me loosing my temper. J

It was lucky enough that the bus was still there and my quilts were saved! Pheeeeewh.

Those are my quilts.. safe and sound

After the silk market, we went to watch Chinese acrobatic show. It was no difference than of what we watch on TV. Skillful acrobats.

One thing I realized the way Chinese do, they don't treat the performers like a star.... Just after the show ended and they made their last bow, all of the performers gallop off the stage to the hall entrance and start selling the performance DVD! May be they also get their commission from the sales.