Sights of Beijing - Part II

Having been reunited with my bike I decided to take advantage of my newfound freedom, avoid the combo of buses/tubes/walks/taxis that have got me round Beijing thus far and ride round to the Summer Palace. So I set out to ride 25k round the auxiliary road of Beijing's 4th ring hoping that it would just lead me to the palace and it did - oh the joys of a grid layout.

The Palace was awesome. It was really nice to see some open spaces and the silhouette of the Fragrant Hills to the west of Beijing (whoever thought I'd miss Wellington's hills?!). The buildings were great and it did slightly amuse me that this kid was allowed to play tennis up against the wall of one of the (UN heritage) buildings and noone was batting an eyelid - comedy.





On the way back I spotted this little birds nest. The observant among you may notice the road in between the camera and the nest...14 lanes I kid you not. Pollution a problem? No way they'll just ban the cars from the road!