The Summer Palace - Beijing 8/14/10

After the Great Wall visit our guide (Tracey) for the day took us to a well known neighborhood Fish restaurant in one of the small towns out near the wall.  They actually had a small pond/pool just next to the dining area where the fish were swimming around and enjoying their day.  Tracey took care of ordering for us and we eat like kings!  The fish (Rainbow Trout) was coated in some great spices and grilled to perfection.  It likely went from alive to my stomach inside of 10 minutes.  We also had a chicken dish, rice, pancakes and a vegetable dish...all delicious.  We rounded that out with 3 large Yanjings (local beer) and our bill came to a total of 122 RMB or about $18.  Huge meal with drinks for 3 people = $18.

Cabs are also particularly reasonable...you can ride for 30 minutes all the way across town and it costs you $5...no tip either.

Once we made our way back into "Beijing City", we visited the Summer Palace.  Very beautiful place to visit.  While the architecture and gardens are beautiful, the highlight of the Summer Palace visit for me was a boat ride across the massive man made lake on a dragon boat.  The boat driver let me sit on the bow of the boat...fun times!

I'll leave you with a few pics...one of me presenting last week and one from my visit to the Great Wall!
Oh, and if you haven't seen it yet, here's video of how I got down after walking around on the wall.

Next post: Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Silk Market.