20/10/2009

Day 15 - Beijing: Summer Palace, Market, Acrobatic Show

This morning we visited the Summer Palace, it is 4 times the size of the Forbidden City! The Emperor used it for the summer only. Everything in the Palace is so ornate; all hand painted and carved it is really beautiful. In the gardens the emperor ordered Kunming Lake be built - it covers 2.2 square kilometers and was entirely man made. The excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill which is 60m high.

After lunch Michelle took us to a local market, I was expecting something like the Vic Market back home - how wrong was I! Imagine a department store 6 floors high, with lots and lots of little shops with no fronts, all with their own vendors begging you to buy something. "Lady, what would you like? Lady, you want silk scarf? Man, you want ipod?" It was constant at one point Mum had 6 vendors all talking to her and one even grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull Mum into her shop! Mum was not happy. The other strange thing was that nothing had a price on it, the vendor would tell you a price and then you had to bargain. Dad kept laughing but Mum was tough and would only give them one price (usually ¼ of they had said) she wouldn't budge and would walk away; most times the vendor would give in and sell at Mum's price. Way to go Mum!

In the evening Mum and Dad took me to an acrobatic performance in a local theatre. The Flying Acrobats were a troop created by a man after some terrible earthquakes in China all the performers are from this area, many had lost everything. The show was really good, it reminded Mum and Dad of Cirque De Soleil, my favorite part was when 13 girls all got onto 1 bike and made the shape of a peacock. It was amazing and to think that Mum struggles with just her and I on a bike!