Walking into the Summer Palace
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The Heralding Spring Pavilion. Built on the small island in front of the Hall of Jade Ripples, beside Kunming Lake's east bank. Its position is believed to provide the best view of the arrival of Spring.
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One of the nine mythical Chinese dragons.
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Behind us is Kunming Lake. This lake was made as a 60th birthday present for the emperor's mother. Seems a bit extreme. Or maybe it answers the age-old question, What do you get for the person who has everything?
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Behind us is Longevity Hill. The Tower of Fragrance of the Buddha sits atop this hill.
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The night before we left to go to Beijing the boys watched the original Karate Kid movie. Here, Owen Son and Alex Son are practicing the Crane move.
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The beams along the length of the corridor are decorated with over 14,000 scenic paintings.
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Owen, a cool rock structure, Longevity Hill, and the Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha. We don't know what fragrance the Buddha holds, but China's really hot and Buddhas are really fat, so it can't be that appealing.
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At the end of the Long Corridor we got on one of these dragon boats to take a cruise across the lake.
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The entrance to the Long Corridor. It is a 2,388 foot walkway on the palace grounds.
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Boarding the dragon boat.
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South Lake Island is connected to the eastern shore by the seventeen-arch bridge. A marble lion crowns each of the 544 balusters along the bridge's length.
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The seventeen-arch bridge.
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