The Summer Palace

Well Tuesday ended up being a bit of a write-off. I woke up with no energy at all and then remembered that I was supposed to be on holidays too!
My chest infection hasn't quite cleared up in Beijings pollution so I decided to try have a day of putting my feet up.
I decided to move out of the hostel I have been staying in, to a hotel across the road that is cheaper and cleaner..
After that (and a huge brunch) I went for a walk to the west - I haven't checked that direction out yet.. I bought some cream for my damaged feet and saw the Performing Arts centre which looks like a massive spaceship. I had a massage and bought a couple of DVD's which I went home and watched after a huge early dinner.

The Chinese Hotel is much noisier than the western hostel, but I had a good sleep and got up planning to go to the Summer Palace. I was thinking about riding a bike out there, it would have taken 1.5 hrs and I didn't quite have the energy, so I decided to get a cab. I jumped in one and pointed and gestured at the meter continuously. The driver wanted to charge me 100 Y to get out there, only when I threatened to get out he turned the meter on.
It was amusing how he pointed out things to my left a couple of times and then when we finally arrived at the Summer Palace the meter said 120 Y.. (he was distracting me from signs we were passing on the right). I knew that 120Y was too much, so I wrote down his taxi driver's rego number from the certificate in the cab and threatened to report him when he suddenly dropped the price to 60Y - which is what I expected.. Not an ideal start to a relaxing day!
When I got into the Summer Palace there were the biggest crowds I have seen so far anywhere! Unfortunately I can't get my photo's off my camera tonight, so if you want, you can see more of the Summer Palace here. It is pretty impressive - 4 times the size of the Forbidden City and it has large gardens and lakes. It became the home of Dowager Cixi (the Dragon Lady). She was still in power at the end of the Qing dynasty when China became a republic. She was interested in photography when it was first invented, and there were some really interesting photos of her and the palace from 1897-1908. I also saw some great Jade, porcelain, bronze and other artwork from the museums collection - some of it dating back to BC.
It was great to check out, but after another day walking around for 6 + hours I was exhausted.. The big question was the journey home and dodgy taxi drivers.. Good old Lonely Planet told me about a public bus that goes to my neighbourhood so I decided to do the local thing. The cost was 2 Y (less than 50 cents!) It was great to be in with the locals, although it was peak hour and so the ride took about 1.5 hours in traffic jams.. My feet were falling off and I popped into a local restaurant for dinner that I had seen a few nights ago.. A large group of Chinese came in so I moved around on my table to let them all sit together a the table next to mine, and before I knew it a few of them were sitting with me too! It was really great to meet some Chinese who were also tourists here in Beijing.. They were here just for the day to go and see Chairman Mao's tomb. It was a really good way to finish my day in Beijing - with the locals - I'm feeling a bit more settled in now and ready to move on to Shanghai on the overnight train tomorrow. Beijing is a great city - so much to see and do, but it is time to go - so much Ming/Qing Dynasty architecture does begin to look the same after a while - the magnitude of everything here is amazing and must be seen to be believed. I'm Ming'ed out on Beijing for now and getting down to Shanghai and back to the Ex-Pat lifestyle for a bit will help me kick the holiday mood in.