I’ve heard from my niece who’s living in China for a time that she sometimes feels like a movie star. I can now totally relate to what she tried to share about her experiences of being noticed everywhere she goes. John asked me yesterday how many pictures I thought I was in that day, and I thought he meant “how many he had taken of me”. But no, he had seen a lot of people snapping photos of me — some are blatantly obvious while others are more subtle. Depending on where we are (city and/or neighborhood, people take more notice of foreigners. Today we visited the Summer Palace of the Qing dynasty — the last of the imperial dynasties of China which fell in 1911. The red hair and freckles seemed to elicit a lot of attention today. Maybe because it’s a tourist spot and people are in a slower mode and have their cameras out ready to shoot scenic vistas, etc. Mothers bring their small children to me and indicate they’d like me to pose with their child (sometimes to the chagrin of the child). Today even the adults were asking for photo opportunities.

The palace grounds are extensive; we spent about 4 hours there and did not see everything. The complex includes the residential and official halls as well as many other buildings and temples and pavilions. There are over 700 acres of hills, lakes, islands, and woods arranged like the traditional “classical” Chinese gardens (or parks really). Royal gardens and common gardens are both laid out using 4 main elements: water, rocks, architecture, and plants. Interestingly, plants and trees are not the main feature of a classical garden.

We took a ferry across the immense Kunming Lake to get closer to the palace. It was a bright sunny, brisk day — the foliage just barely beginning to turn. Weeping willow trees line the shore and mountains make a dramatic backdrop. It’s a gorgeous spot. John discovered a “secret” trail and we got up to the top of the highest point and had a marvelous view of Beijing’s skyline. Flocks of chirping magpies, China’s “lucky bird”, were up there with us. Striking black, white, and blue crow-size birds. They must have thought we were paparazzi because we took dozens of pictures of them.