Beijing, China 2013 – Day 5 – XiuShui Market, Summer Palace, Olympic Stadiums

Our fifth day started late. Our driver and guide picked us up at 11AM as opposed to the usual 9AM (we are usually late cause we always oversleep).

Our first stop was Xiushui market. It’s an indoor shopping centre with hundreds of fashion outlets. There are some toys and electronic shops too. Bargaining is a must here. Some shop keepers can be quite aggressive and rude but if you maintain your calm, you’ll probably get the price that you want.

Counterfeits are ample in this place. I was expecting many outlets using fake brand names just like the fake Apple store. However, there were not many of them but there is one Ferrerri.

Summer Palace was next.

Although the place was huge, we only took short and quick stroll. It’s quite scenic and we got to see the frozen man-made Kunming Lake. We even walked on top of it but we were told it is dangerous to do so. Imagine falling through the ice!


However, whenever I think of this place I would think how Empress Dowager Ci Xi diverted China’s navy funds to repair and build this palace.


The Marble Boat is one of the many structures rebuilt or repaired using the navy funds.

Our last outing was to the Chinese Olympics stadiums. It was just another stroll along the Olympics venue to see the birds’ nest stadium.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go here as there was nothing much to do or see here. We headed back to our hotel after that. To end our night, we went for foot reflexology. It’s quite similar to what we have in Malaysia.

This post marks the end of the my Beijing trip. China was an eye opener. I would certainly go back to China again. Next stop, Shanghai!

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