China was a place I always dreamed digging to as a child while I played with my plastic army figures in my sand box in the backyard. I don't know why, maybe because it seemed so far away and the people so different, I always had such a fascination to go there.

As I watch the Olympics on television I chuckle at some of the places they show as they come in and out of commercial or in different special reports about the country. I laugh because it's so funny to think that, "yeah, I've been there, I've seen that...and oh, right around the corner from it is this cool little spot."

Beijing, and the surrounding area, is really quite interesting with a treat at most every corner. The things that are common there, like what you'll find in the grocery store, just aren't what you'd find in the United States and it really opens ones eyes to "what a tiny place you occupy in the world." (Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari, page 45)

Of course, before the games, I seemed to be the novelty in all of China. I knew that China was more open to foreign tourists, but never did I think that I'd get such strange looks from people all over the city of Beijing despite being the obvious tourist. I truly thought my red-headed traveling partner would get the looks, but they sure were interested in my size.

Everywhere we went I got looks from people, but none moreso than when we visited the new Summer Palace, one of my favorite stops on the trip.

The relaxing Kunming Lake, which covers most of the palace grounds, and a small river that flows nearby give opportunity to many great pictures and scenic walks around the palace, which is buildt atop Longevity Hill.

The palace itself, in truth, is nothing terribly different, with a few exceptions like the marble boat and the seventeen-arch bridge (left), than what you'll see in the rest of Beijing for classic architecture, particularly if you've already visited the Forbidden City, but it's still more than worthwhile to spend a day there walking the grounds and learning about the history of such a fascinating country.

We decided over breakfast at the hotel that we would do just that. We would spend the day at the new and old summer palaces in Beijing learning more of the story of this country and its people.

The cab driver that we rented out almost daily in our stay, who we called Bob since we couldn't remember his actual name, nor read it on his business card, dropped us off at the entrance to the new summer palace in the morning and we made our way inside.

No sooner did we get in than we ran into one of the oh so common tour groups that seemed only distinguishable by the color hats they wore. I tried to wait patiently for them to pass so I could snap a few quick photos, but as I did, I found that I became the bigger point of interest for them instead of the palace.

Before I knew what was happening I was surrounded by about 30 Chinese people, some asking me questions in Mandarin (so I assume), and even one guy that tried to stand up to me on his tip toes and jokingly show that I wasn't so big after all.

It was all quite amusing, even at the end when a little old lady kept talking to me after most of the rest of the group left. Try and try again I kept shrugging in an attempt to show here that I wasn't sure what she was saying, but she kept repeating the same thing to me.

The only guess I, or my travel partner. had was that she was asking me if I would marry her grand daughter. And, for all I really know, that's exactly what she was asking me!


“Traveling makes one modest - you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
~ Paul Theroux, travel author