The Summer Palace, the Lama Temple the Confucian Temple

Bill joined this tour and it was a good choice as the smog had cleared and the tour was probably the nicest.

The Summer Palace is really beautiful. It is the largest Imperial garden in China, covering 304 hectares and includes Lake Kunming.

One of the bridges on the lake.

On the boat taking us across the lake.

Another bridge and a pagoda.

Bill after the ride.

This is the Long Corridor, described as the longest art gallery in the world. It is 728 metres and is richly decorated with paintings on the beams and the ceiling. In total there are more than 14,000 paintings, which depict episodes from Chinese classical literature, folk tales, historical and legendary figures, famous Chinese buildings and landscapes along with flowers, birds, fish, and insects.

Next stop the Lama Temple, the centre of learning for the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Lamas. It has five courtyards and temples in a row.

This was one of the few places we visited in Beijing which we actually had access to the inside.

These guys look pretty fierce.

More roof guardians.

The Confucian Temple was built in 1302, and officials used it to pay their respects to Confucius until 1911.

It is very peaceful...

and very colourful.