Our next tourist trap destination was the Summer Palace. It is set off to the north-west of the city. Emperors would escape to this palace during the hot summer months (China is in the northern hemisphere so they have the same summer months as the US. Moreover, Beijing is at about the same latitude as Sacramento).
I suppose now is an opportunity to jump off topic and discuss the weather we experienced. We happened to visit Beijing during a small heat wave. The mornings warmed up quickly with afternoon highs in the mid to high 80s, peaking around 2pm. The heat seemed to linger into the evenings, but it was probably the humidity that I am not accustomed to, being around 70 percent most of the day. It didn't really "feel" cool until at least 11pm.
Enough about the weather, we needed to find a Taxi!
Here is our first Chinese taxi ride!
We saw a massive Firefighter headquarters
Sky scrappers literally & seriously everywhere
You're typical Beijing freeway view
Just like in Japan, they have digital real-time traffic congestion signs. Very nice
Sweet an Evo!
Some strange 3-lane road that reduced to just 1-left-turn-lane, so it was a complete mess here. Took like 5 mins just to get to the intersection.
If you haven't noticed by now, they drive on the left side of the road just like in America. Interesting...
