Summer Palace, Beijing

We were not able to get tickets in the same cabin so a young man in mine kindly swapped with Roy so we could be together. We slept well and woke up in Beijing. We fetched our bags after being charged for 5 days instead of 4 because it's not 24 hour period. Grrrrrr, always in their favour.

Got the underground to our hotel which was close to the metro station and happily we were given the room so early. It was a bigger hotel then Roy expected, but it was still very nice. We cleaned up and by about 11 we left for the Summer Palace. The metro is stupidly cheap in China, but even distances are quite far and the journeys seemed to take longer. We found the palace and special a while walking around the grounds.

Garden of supreme satisfaction (or something similar)

The ground are quite extensive

Roy had heard that he could get a new lens he wanted from a camera mall and we followed he directions he got off the Internet. We got off at the right metro stop but spent about an hour looking for the place with the incorrect directions, finally finding it as it closed. Frustrated, we caught the metro to the 'silk market' where you are supposed to be able to shop to your hearts content.  Unfortunately it's not like that. Besides being hassled from the moment you step foot in there, as a Westerner you are given exorbitant prices and bargaining is so hard and unpleasant it doesn't worth it. A lot of stalls were unwilling to give prices close to what a local would pay, and it was obvious that they would rather get one stupid price from the occasional Westerner than give more a fair one. So at most shops we left without anything. We got Roy 2 shirts, paying just a bit more than we should have, and I got a bathing costume for close what I'd pay at home. We tried buying a suitcases but the prices were double what we'd pay at home, so we didn't get. Looks like it won't be needed at this rate anyway!
By the time we left it was already late and walking at the lake nearby our hotel all the restaurants had stopped serving. Roy was disgusted that he was forced to buy Mc Donalds take aways when in China!