Our first day of sun today :) and our last day in Beijing for 12 days :(. Plans did not change today so we headed off just after breakfast for a very brief visit to the Olympic village to see the Birds Nest and the Water Cube. Those are some seriously impressive buildings!
We were then rapidly herded back onto the buses for transport to the Summer Palace, the summer home of the Emperors of China. The palace is located within 300 hectares of land including a huge great lake, endless palace buildings and pagoda’s, and the world’s longest painted corridor. So a fairly ridiculous amount for one person and his entourage.
Lunch was again a set menu at a traditional Beijing restaurant, but this time with dancers for entertainment. Our next stop was a ‘Hutong’ tour in a rickshaw. The ‘Hutongs’ are narrow streets, once used by the Mongols and the Chinese Military, that appeared to have become almost a slum area of Beijing, although due to the economic crisis, the government is employing many of those who have lost their jobs to rebuild, and renovate the houses and structures in the areas.
After the ‘Hutong’ tour we visited the Drum and Bell Towers along the North-South line where all important buildings in Beijing seem to be. We finished the day off with a wander through Beijing back to the hotel, and a random cross language discussion in a restaurant leaving us appearing like crazy ‘foreigners’.
Tomorrow we will be heading off to Mongolia so we will probably not be putting up any more updates until 31st July. We have not had time to sort any pictures for the blog due to the fact we are leaving at 3am for Mongolia tomorrow. Therefore please see our Three Nations Gallery for all the pictures so far (including a few extras that appeared randomly).