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August / September 2003
Inside this edition:
Weekend Excursion: Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan Yizhi)
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On a late September evening we went to the northwest of Beijing city center and toured the ancient 12th century Summer Palace and watched the sunset. We wandered along the palaces of Emperor Qianlong amongst the well preserved relics, fountains and statues.
It was so nice to be able to get in at that time and have the Palace pretty much to ourselves. We took a look around and saw some of the Summer Palace's many attractions like the Marble boat and the 700m walkway with the most beautifully decorated ceiling. We also saw the famous Bronze Ox. It was too late to get onto the boats on the Kunming Lake at the Palace so we all sat by the shore of the lake and ate some Chinese snacks.
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| Evening time we all went to the summer palace to see the sunset. From left: Eskil, John, Teresa, Howard, Jeffery, Yandi, Nadine, Josh & Andrew
| Jonathon and Dina at the summer palace
| Yandi enjoying the Beijing Autumn sun
| Andrew and Nadine exploring the Forbidden City
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| Trenton and Ruby having a laugh at the summer palace
| Nadine and Andrew looking around the old buildings
| Andrew, Nadine, Howard and Dina enjoy the summer palace after sunset
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| Teresa and Nadine
| Jeremy and Teresa out on the town at night
| Nadine in central Beijing
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Students immersing in the Chinese Language...
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| Learning Chinese grammar
| Trenton, Howard and Nadine having a chat between classes
| Lutz in class
| Andrew, Trenton and Howard comparing notes after class
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Temple of Enlightenment (Da Jue Si)
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Da Jue Si, the Ming Hui Teahouse, is one of those great undiscovered places outside Beijing that is really off the tourist map.
The Temple itself stands at the foot of Yangtai Hill in Beijing’s western suburbs. The rolling hills here are said to resemble a sleeping lion. The vista of two flanking temples, the Lotus Temple and the Temple of Universal Grace, sitting atop hills to the west and east of the Temple of Enlightenment, is popularly described as “A Lion Rolling Two Embroidered Balls?or “A Buddha and Two Bodhisattvas.?The history of Da Jue Si is nearly 1000 years old. Inside the temple grounds is the most amazing restaurant that serves Hang Zhou food in a beautiful old building that has been restored.
You can also enjoy Chinese tea in one of the many courtyards within Da Jue Si. After a big lunch we took a stroll around and soaked in the history of the place. Later we got the chance to sit under some beautiful old trees and chat with some of the monks and other people who worked at the temple. It seems the temple is quite popular with Beijingers who like to sit somewhere quiet over the weekend and read or chat with their friends. It was so nice to get out of the city and meet so many interesting people.
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| Tanya & Emerson
| Group picture
| Jonathan & Michael
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Andrew, Tanya & Emerson have
a rest under the tree
| Enjoying lunch
| Ann & Dwi have a chat after lunch
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Tai Ping Yang Underwater World Exhibition
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On August 16th WLE students went on an excursion to the Tai Ping Yang Underwater World Exhibition. The Tai Ping Yang Aquarium is one of the largest aquariums in Asia, the perfect place to spend a rainy day! The highlight of the day was without doubt seeing the sharks being fed. The tour was conducted in Chinese as well as English so we were able to learn a lot of new vocabulary. We also met many interesting people from various provinces around China, as many of them had traveled to Beijing to see the Aquarium.
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Back to front: Eric, Meiling, James,
David, Ah-Ryun Hyo & Dwi
| One of the many varieties of fish at the aquarium
| James, Meiling & Deborah
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Ming Tombs (1409-1644 AD)
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The Ming Tombs (built from 1409-1644 AD) are located 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing. This is where 13 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644), along with their empresses and concubines, were buried. We set off early morning so it would still be nice and cool when we got there; the fresh air of the mountains made it such a pleasure to get out into the countryside for the day.
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| Left to right: Zhang Lao Shi, Meiling,
Andrew & Tanya
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| Tanya and Meiling in the Ming Lou
| The View from Ming Lou
| Meiling in the Ming Lou
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The tombs are spread over an expansive of nearly 40km, so seeing everything was an impossible task! As well as the regular route we found some beautiful spots off the path to simply sit back and enjoy the gorgeous view. With few tourists visiting the tombs we were able to enjoy the tranquility of the area. We felt lucky to be able to enjoy a place so full of history.
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| Beijing International Golf Club
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| Left to right: Zhang Lao Shi, Meiling, Andrew & Tanya
| Left to right: Andrew, Tanya, Meiling & Zhang Lao Shi
| Left to right: Zhang Lao Shi, Meiling, Tanya, Andrew & Jim
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Social Night, Aug 29
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On Friday, Aug 29, the WLE group went to Liu He Ren Jia, a Beijing duck restaurant not far from the WLE campus. Beijing is famous for roast duck and this particular restaurant was recommended by Deborah, one of the WLE team. Aside from the regular popular dishes, the restaurant offered many other Beijing dishes that we had never tried before, like special hot and sour Luo Yu fish. The food was delicious, and the walls of the restaurant were covered with old poems written in Chinese characters, creating quite a unique atmosphere.
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Enjoying the food:
Ann Ann, Mei Ling, Victor & James
| Nicola loved the fish
| Liu He Ren Jia, a Beijing duck restaurant
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