Today we brave the crowds, and against Henry's advice, we aim for the Summer Palace - literally "Gardens of Nurtured Harmony" - the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The crowds can only be described as hideous, full on and that is just on the metro. We spill out into the daylight and again are swept along towards the entrance and ticket booth. Again we have the same argy bargy in the push to queue and pay and clutching map and guide book, bags and each other tightly we grit our teeth and try and enjoy our time at yet another "must see" place. Sadly, the experience is not a happy one, it could have been so magical, such a special and beautiful place. Again we are left with heavy hearts and a sense of disappointment that we are denied the space and time to look, study and take in. Again, bombarded with Chinese and their wretched cameras. Again, bumped, jostled and moved along by loudhalers and security guards. Again we are shocked by the total and utter disregard and respect for the surroundings given. Henry blames the "uncivilised peasants from the countryside" when we tell him the story of our day later in the evening -which we all chuckle about. BUT... what we do manage to see IS amazing and we remind ourselves again that we ARE lucky to be here together and that atleast is some comfort. Here are just some of the photos with a brief explanation of where we are in each! 
Longevity Hill - The wall of 1000 Buddhas. Some of the beautiful buildings seen from the hilltop.
Tower of Buddhist Incense (Fo Xiang Ge), which forms the focal point for the buildings on the southern slope of Longevity Hill. The tower is built on a 20-meter-tall stone base, is 41 meters high with three stories and supported by eight ironwood pillars.
Three very fed up Handleys!
From the top of the hill we can see the vast reaches of Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square kilometers. It was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill. We had read in the guidebook that Empress like to watch the Navy to practise their drills on the lake and we couldnt understand how this could be. As we look down at the hundreds of pleasure craft and passenger dragon boats zipping across the lake we suddenly understand exactly!
We are slowly moved down the hill and emerge at the bottom not really having had the chance to take in much of what we were seeing or the significance of particular buildings e.g 4 pavilions representing the seasons on the long corridor which ran along the lake edge. By this point the area is so populous we can hardly hear the headset which is vainly burbling away in broken English, triggered by GPS, and we have had enough. We join a dragon boat queue to transport us across the lake so we can see some of the bridges criss crossing the shore on our way to the 17 arch bridge.
The boat brings some respite from the crowds and we watch the incredible helmsmanship of several small craft with zero awareness of the large dragon shaped vessel powering across the water towards them causing us to take avoiding action on more than one occasion.
Much fist shaking, eye rolling and chuntering from our boat captain ensues but is totally disregarded.
The view back up the hill is magnificent, all beit slightly hazy with the usual amount of Chinese fug in the air, but we get a glimpse of what could have been on a clear day with fewer people. The crowds on the south shore to cross the bridge are such that, without even a backward glance, we make our way to the exit.
The journey back to the city is full of the usual commuter pleasures however it is the first time Nicole has ever been lifted off her feet in the surge into the carriage!
Slightly better evening - Henry has kindly arranged to collect us from the end of our alley and takes us to the Red Theatre to watch the Legend of Kung Fu. For us it is a bit too tourist focused but for the girls there is just the right amount of story, music and the MOST amazing and frankly jaw dropping martial arts performed by Shaolin Monks.
At the end we take advantage of a photo opportunity of our own!
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