Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

Visiting was Beijing was a wonderful little break!

 

On my first day, Saturday, I wandered around some of the downtown retail area, until I met up with an English student of mine, who I now call Uncle Peter.  He's a retired government official who has been in Beijing visiting family for nearly two months.  Uncle Peter took me out to this great Peking Duck restaurant for dinner, which was a fine meal!  His English is coming along.  We always have some good laughs!

 

Sunday, I took another stroll, this time to find a Starbucks.  (I love Starbucks!  Anywhere you go in the world, Starbucks has the same excellent quality coffee and a relaxing atmosphere, especially when you sink into one of their comfy chairs.)  So after doing a bit of walking and passing through Tiananmen Square, I found my way to one and sat back for a few hours.  Afterwards, I went my way to the Xidan bookstore and found Intercontinental's Best of China, which many foreigners had suggested that I pick up to complement my other travel books about China.  Unlike the other books, this book was written by native Chinese English speakers (and the text in the book is surprisingly good).  I think that this book gives a better domestic perspective than any other and would highly recommend getting a copy to complement a Western-style Lonely Planet or Let's Go series.

 

Monday, I visited the Summer Palace and checked out the lake and Pagoda at Peking University (aka "Beida") campus.  The Summer Palace is a lush, green paradise.  Took a paddle boat on the lake and got some good pictures.  It's a huge place with numerous imperial buildings, temples, pagodas, forests, and ornately-covered and tree-lined walk-ways.

 

Beida is the "Harvard" of China.  The campus has a beautiful lake and walking trails open to the public, so I took a stroll.  There is a famous towering pagoda adjacent to the lake, which stands reminiscent of the past.  There is indeed a form of ivy growing on many of the buildings at "Beida," so I guess one can say that it is a Chinese "ivy-league" school.