Day 29 - YuanMingYuan Park and the Summer Palace

At a little restaurant outside of Yuanmingyuan park. Eating chinese style is more fun with a buddy - particularly one who speaks Chinese and can order for you :) though I did end up trying this yogurt drink in a jar. I'd seen people with them all over and was admittedly quite curious. Turns out it's this unsweetened plain yogurt thing. Drinkable, but not sure I get the draw. Apparently it's a childhood thing?

The park is quite nice, and is the site site of the old summer palace, so there are sone interesting ruins to see. What made it spectacular though is the fact that it lotus season, so there are whole lakes of plants in bloom. So many photos to sort through. Another cool bit is that apparently I'm eligible for a student discount. Yay for people who speak Chinese :)

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Recapping at the end of the day. Currently getting a pedicure at the hotel salon. They had been closed when I first got back, but I think they called someone in for me. Which is good because i was talking to the lady at the front desk and some of the places in the area aren't necessarily safe, so wandering around to look for some place open so late wouldn't be the best idea.

Quite relaxing. I get to lie on the massage beds as they do it, and the salon is within range of the lobby wifi which is an added plus. Not as much skin treatment as they would have in Brazil or the Philippines, but eh. My feet are kinda gross from walking in sandals all day and it's not like I want to deal with them. I think what I really wanted would have been a foot massage, but meh.

Anyways, good day, but tiring. After lunch and YuanMingYuan park we headed to the summer palace. We took buses there which seemed kind of scary at first, but actually wasn't that bad. Wouldn't do it myself mind you as there are so many routes to choose from, but once you're on a bus, they all have video screens in them, and all stops are announced in English. Apparently a legacy of the Beijing games that I whole heartedly approve of. The subways here are good too - all the cars have little electronic maps that show the route, what stop you're on an what's next.

Anyways, back to my recap. Wandered the Palace complex for awhile - the sun started coming out, and with all the people there it got super hot. Wandered towards the lake which is apparently famous, and then headed towards the marble boat, checking out other sited enroute. Didn't have that much time to explore though, as we had to be at the University for a meeting.

The meeting went well, though I did have to give a last minute presentation. Luckily we arrived in time for me to whip up a quick PowerPoint. Anyways, after the meeting the research team we headed out for a quick dinner on our way to check out the Olympic venues.

Had a 'western style' sandwich at this cute little coffee place. Oddly didn't ha coffee there, as it was way too hot, but the food was good. After, took another bus until we got to the birds nest and water cube. The whole complex is really impressive. We got ice-cream at McDonalds and then wandered for a bit, before splitting up to head home.

Had to transfer 3 times and then walk from the station, but made it in the end. This post is getting very abrupt , so I think I'm going to call it a night. Pedi is done and I need sleep, so maybe I'll fill in details from the airport tomorrow?

Looking at my pink toes makes me happy. Maybe I should I've gotten a manicure too? Next time. Maybe will atleast remove the old polish before bed.