Summer Palace - gardens and paths

Upon arrival in Beijing we were met by our guide and driver. Our first stop was to be the Summer Palace. But wait, what was that smell? The car had an overwhelming cigarette and musty odor. In combination with the very noticeable Beijing pollution my lungs were telling me "uh, oh". I then realized I had forgotten my dust mask on the ship. I asked the guide about the pollution level and she said they didn't have much pollution and it had gotten alot better. She felt Japan must be much more polluted because they all wore mask whereas in Beijing they did not. Someone is fooling the Beijing residents. The air quality is horrible. I've already put the dust masks into my bag for Vietnam so I don't forget them again.

We got some overview during the drive to the Summer Palace. However there was another red flag. The guide spent her time chatting with the driver in Chinese and not giving us information. We were forced to pay strict attention to what we were passing by so we could ask questions if something looked interesting.

Our entrance to the Summer Palace turned out to be the exit for most of the tour groups. As a result, the tour was sort of like creeping up the alley, going in through the back gate, crossing the beautiful back yard, entering the kitchen and making your way to the entrance of the house were there was a beautiful foyer. Not the way to see an attraction. Our guide indicated this was better because it would be less crowded. While that may be true, it was hard to orient one's self, especially since she was content to walk along in silence unless we asked questions or give out a bit of information right when we got to something. It was sparse and pretty canned info. I looked up the Summer Palace on the Internet here on the ship and it turns out that a good item to have been told about was the various styles of Chinese gardens represented. We didn't hear any of that. However it was truly beautiful. Every which way you turned the lake, waterways, bridges,
paths, plants etc. were presented in such a lovely way (pics. 1 & 2). Pic. 3 is the marble boat. This boat does not actually float but was a sitting place for the Emperor to have some tea and enjoy the view. Apparently you used to be able to go on the boat but now there are too many visitors.