The Summer Palace and Fragrant Hill

I spent most of Thursday with Marshall visiting some of the most beautiful parks in Beijing; Summer Palace and Fragrant Hill. Summer Palace is spectacular and much different than the other parks I visited on my Tuesday excursion. You could get lost in the park, and in fact, we did! We walked along the lake for a bit, peaked inside some preserved buildings, and took a boat across the lake to the north east side of the park, where we hiked up many many many steps to a Tibetan Buddhist temple at the highest point of the Summer Palace. The views were amazing from up there, unforgettable. Marshall bought a deck of cards at the top with the names of the past Chinese Emperors displayed on each card. I enjoyed my ice cream as we peacefully walked down the back side of the centuries-old temples. Although my connection to Darah and Marshall was initially through Darah, it was really nice to spend some quality time with Marshall. We talked religion, politics, economics, and career and really bonded on our journey through the magical park. Darah and Marshall, you are great people individually and genuinely amazing as a couple. I am so glad I had this time with both of you and appreciate you both so much!

In addition to seeing live karaoke at the park, I also saw my first split pants bathroom break in action! A little boy went pee in public on the ground at the Summer Palace right through his split pants. Haha. I love it! Marshall also pointed out to me that many boyfriends will hold the purses of their spouses/girlfriends when in public. It is supposedly a very Chinese thing to do and once Marshall pointed it out, I couldn’t stop noticing the handbags dangling from the arms of the men courting their love interests. Hmm… how can we bring this etiquette to the US?
Lastly, I’ve noticed that there aren’t very many children wandering around Beijing, compared to adults. Marshall and my driver David confirmed that it’s because China has a policy that you can only birth 1 child. So many Chinese our age do not have siblings and you’ll see the few toddlers in split pants with their mom, dad, and both sets of grandparents at the parks; 6 adults to 1 child. I also felt like I saw far more male children then female. Food for thought.

Next, we headed up to Fragrant Hill, another park near the Summer Palace, but the name Hill in its name didn’t come from nothing. It was literally a hill up to some point Marshall and I didn’t dare try to find out. We hiked up this amazingly beautiful hill with paved trails until we didn’t feel like it anymore. We took a mini-break at this courtyard where picnic tables were set up and a snack place lay. There a few others at this courtyard, about 7 locals playing cards at one of the tables. Marshall and I ordered a beer some pistachios, whipped out the deck of emperor cards and played Speed. Oh yes, I taught Marshall my favorite card game ever! The local ladies playing their card game found us entertaining I am sure and we quickly raced to lay down all of the cards in our hands. In between each round, we’d devour more pistachios and drink some more beer, then onto the next round of Speed. I must have been a great teacher, because Marshall won the Speed championship round. You’re welcome Marshall. I won’t tell your competitive spirit that I let you win! (Just kidding!)