The Summer Palace

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The Summer Palace was the most beautiful thing that i saw in my whole time in China!! As i mentioned in my review of the Forbidden City, i thought that at that point, the Forbidden City was my favourite, but expected it to be overtaken after our trip to see the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an.

However, we never got to Xi'an! Following hours of fruitless searching and asking of questions, in an attempt to get a return ticket from Beijing to Xi'an, we found that we had left it too late!! Apparently, all we could get would be a one way ticket to Xi'an, but no return, with staff at both Beijing train station and Beijing West repeatedly telling us "Mei You Mei You!"(don't have don't have).

simply stunning

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It would have been a big risk to go to Xi'an and realise we couldnt get back for a few days, especially with my cousin mark needing to be back on time for work reasons. So, reluctantly, we made other plans!!

Never before has the phrase 'every cloud' been so apt. Although i missed out on the Terracotta Warriors i got to see so much more, including the temple of heaven, but more importantly, The Summer Palace.

This place was simply stunning, and it will stay in my memory for a very long time. We visited it on a perfect day, and one of my highlights was the absolute beauty of a sunset!! As Mark and Amanda and probably most people at home will now know, i got a bit snap happy about this sunset and probably have a picture at each second it was going down! LOL!

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Again, if you ever visit China, this is a must see!! I can imagine it would be even more beautiful in the summer. A sight for sore eyes!