A Weekend in Beijing, China

Trying 'cupping' Traditional Chinese Medicine 

Our friends often ask us what we do on our weekends. So this month's blog centres around a 'usual' weekend- not one travelling the greater China but just a normal Beijing weekend.

Our weekends are generally busy but also relaxing. We try not to take them for granted but also use them to relax after a long week teaching.

We have combined some photos from the last few weekends, which for us, fall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (quieter days in the life of a private English school teacher).

Sometimes we think our weekends are a little boring but then we remember 'hay, we're in China- we certainly weren't doing this a few years ago!'.

Drinks at Atmosphere Bar- Beijing's highest restaurant

Monday evenings are often a wind down from a busy week. Usually, it is a late night with Kara finishing work at 8.30pm and John arriving home shortly after.

So we relax with a visit to the Chinese doctor or catch up with some friends for drinks and/or dinner! We love to head out on a Monday evening to try a different restaurant for dinner. Or if there is an electrical storm (happens more often than you think in Summer!) we cuddle up and watch a movie while the rain drives pellets into our corrugated roof.

Below are some photos we took last week at Beijing's highest restaurant (Atmosphere Bar). It is part of only a very small handful of places you can go in Beijing to see a city outlook.

The view over Beijing

Looking Northward (can you see the tall factories)

On Tuesday and/or Wednesday's, if the weather is fine, we will visit a new park in the city for some outdoor activity. We like to get out exploring new parts of the city as much as we can! Whether it is a park, lake, historical sight or tourist attraction we are knocking them off our list!

Our local coffee joint

Breakfast from seven11

First stop however is always the local bakery for a coffee (mmm... roast hazelnut coffee) and breakfast or the seven11 across the street for some sushi!

Jogging the 10km track at Beijings Olympic Park

Beijing's Olympic Park

We usually will buy lunch downstairs from us at a local restaurant which are below our building (salad and rice, beef noodles or dry egg fried noodles are our favourite!). We also try to make a trip to the supermarket on the weekend to stock up on groceries for the week like eggs and veges.  If our budget allows it we also might venture to an expat food shop that specialise in international food. We might get a little treat of some Australian red wine, cheese or our favourite: olives! Mmmmmm.

Mix salads (eaten with rice)

Watching the subway come in

We find that during our weekend we spend quite a bit of time on public transport (2yuan per ride or AUD20c). Going to and from the parks of course!

One of the advantages of taking our weekend on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is that we miss most of the peak subway traffic!

Sunset over Ciqikou

Depending on the weather (it is VERY hot here!) and the air quality we usually end the weekend with a stroll around our neighbourhood stopping at the 'local' for 'leno ji dan' dumplings or stay in and cooking veges and rice for dinner!

Playing in the rain on the balcony

So our weekends aren't full but we are busy. Our most important thing is to relax and have fun after such tiring weeks. We love and appreciate having the time each week to explore more of China in a no-rush (backpack free) way!

Tot siens,
John and Kara

A trip to the Summer Palace, Beijing, China

Paddle boats on lake Kunming, Summer Palace

It was a beautiful warm and sunny Wednesday when we ventured to Beijing’s Summer Palace. 

The air was clear, a little overcast and perfect for a stroll around one of Beijing’s biggest attractions (720 acres), which is located 15km North West from the centre of Beijing.

Some of our colleagues have ventured there in the spring and had highly recommended it (along with our Beijing guide citing it as in the top five Beijing attractions!)

Around the man-made river there are many shops

So we made the subway journey north with our backpacks over-full with water and sunscreen feeling prepared for the 38 degree day! After arriving and joining the masses for tickets we wandered (map-less) into the Beijing's Summer park. Construction of the Summer Palace began in the year 1121 with the building of the Wang Hill Palace by Emperor of the Jin Dynasty.

John in front of a palace

In later years imperial gardens blossomed and the area was re-named ‘Garden of Clear Ripples’ as the current emperor built a whopping, giant man-made lake (about 520 acres) in the middle of the garden. As you do! All the excavated soil was piled and packed down then named Longevity Hill which is bejeweled with a number of grand buildings (the cloud-dispelling hall, Temple of Buddist virtue, Sea of Wisdom temple and the Tower of Buddist Essence).

A boat venturing off between the water lilies

As we pumped it up the old stone steps of Longevity Hill it got hotter and hotter, the dry heat made it hard to breathe. But we continued, as we were on a mission to find the ancient ruins often talked about. 

The Summer Palace has suffered two major attacks – during the Anglo-French invasion of 1860 and during the Boxer Rebellion (8 allied groups) in the 1900s. The garden was torched and many stone building destroyed. Since the destruction, the palaces have been under restoration. 

Just posing in front of a small tree

After a few hours we started to get quite tired and hungry – but still no ruins! We walked around the big lake, up and down small little paths, stopped for a sausage on a stick and climbed the multitude of unsightly tall bridges before John mentioned he thinks it was in another location- at the OLD Summer Palace!

Pretty between the flowers

After remembering that we actually live in a modern age, the GPS on our phones told us the Old Summer Palace was not far away - another 1.5kilometers to the west. So we exited the park and walked west stopping for a small lunch of local cold (but very spicy) rice noodles. 

Was this an ancient bridge?

We got into the Old Summer Palace park but couldn’t see any ruins! After walking over 12km in the heat and in our jandals we were exhausted, our legs ached our stomachs were grumbling and we had reached the end of our water supply.

Perhaps only through sheer stubbornness (on Kara’s behalf) we continued on, driven by the fact that after looking for these ruins for over 6 hours, surely we must stumble on them sometime soon??

Another 3km later winding around small lakes and over hills we found the ruins, behind a large fenced off area with a women demanding a ticket. Doh! Somehow we had missed the ticket office and had entered the main park unknowingly, without a ticket. 

This would have been a beautiful fountain

After some negotiation and an exchange of money, we entered the special area and explored the ruins of the Old Summer Palace.

Exploring the ancient ruins

The Old Summer Palace known as Yuan Ming Yuan (the gardens of perfect brightness) and its surrounding park cover an area five times the size of the Forbidden City (or eight times the size of the Vatican City). 







The existing ruins and remains of western mansions and 18^th century European palaces, fountains and gardens were built by the Qianlong Emperor. The beautiful buildings were destroyed in 1860 during the second opium war. 

Not much left of these buildings

We didn't stay long, after a few photos our legs cried for fear of the additional 2km walk back to the subway so we slowly and painfully stumbled to the closest subway and headed home. It was a beautiful day and we felt so lucky to be outside enjoying China's fresh air with the other 38,000+ people enjoying the park that day!

Tot siens,
John and Kara

(a little more nature below).

A local butterfly resting its wings. 

Caught just at the right moment

The surrounding park had stunning flowers