Our taxi dropped us off at the north gate this time. It's kinda like the east gate, but only more north-y.
Lots of buses drop their customers off here to avoid the crowds of the east gate.
Seems to take a lot more to say that in Chinese...
There's this cool little fake lake village thing near the entrance. Pretty buildings, and nice scenery.
Colourful!
The bridge that takes you over the little pond/lake thing is nice too.
I think there are lots of touristy shops down there where you can buy things. Given that we were just starting the day of, we decided to pass for now.
Alex decided to join us.
Our friend Emma decided to join us as well, and we kinda -had- to bring Zoltan along.
Some bum who needs a haircut.
More gate-y goodness.
I pretty much spent the entire day saying "Wow, it's gorgeous out today". It really was that nice out.
Handy map and guide to Chinese Olympic Glory!
This is your first view up to the top of the hill where some of the cooler shrines and buildings are.
So, you'd better snap a photo.
Or just sit around talking and playing cards.
Looks very Budda-y.
This kid was having the time of her life in the little plaza thing.
You have to do some work here though. To get to the top of the hill, ya gotta climb some stairs.
It's worth it though.
Did I mention how nice it was out today? Really, it's quite nice out!
I think this is facing north and east of Beijing.
At the top of the hill, lots of people just hang out and relax.
You get to see your first cool temple/shrine place thingie. (I am nothing if not eloquent).
"Booooooorrrrringg!!"
The entire building is covered in these little budda carvings. Sadly, every single one looks like this.
Your first teaser view of Kunming Lake.
Fashionable photography is very important here.
More glimpses at the lake. You can even see the cool pagoda-boats they have going around the lake.
There's an island on the lake with a bridge with like a zillion lion sculptures on it too. You can see the west of the city in the background.
This is the cloud temple area, which costs a few extra RMB to get into, but is totally worth it. This was what was closed last time we were here.
This is the little temple sidecar area. I guess big temples need little buddies too.
The main temple itself is pretty colourful and nice.
Eeek! It's a fashion super model !!!!
"Rawr! I stomp tiles dead!!!"
香天外云。 Something like clouds beyond the fragrant heavens?
All of these buildings are freshy renovated and don't feel that old, but it's still kinda nice to see.
Well, for some people.
Finally, the promised views of the lake.
A little homemade panorama of the lake.
You can see down into some of the other building complexes here.
Everybody waiting for me to stop taking so many damn photos.
Now we have to get –down- the hill.
Traffic jam!
UUuh, translation anybody?
This building is made entirely of bronze. Which probably makes it hot to the touch in the summer heat.
Down at the pavilions at the bottom.
You can still see the fragrant cloud temple thingie.
Tour bus group!
Now that's a serious pose.
Paddleboats!
Here we are on the pagoda boat thingie, working our way to the island with the scary lion bridge.
This kid was bored.
You get some really nice views of the main temple complex.
On the island, there's not much to see, but it's still nice to walk around.
The bridge, however, is overflowing with people.
It's a lot steeper than it looks.
It's this steep.
Last photo before the battery dies and we head home. Nice visit!