Climbing Wanshou Hill 万寿山

End of the Trail at Wanshou Hill

End of the Trail at Wanshou Hill

For such and important tourist destination, the Summer Palace in Beijing 颐和园 isn’t exactly very tourist friendly. Sure, there are a lot of signs which describe the sights, but it seems to lack direction markers. I was basically wandering around the ground trying to figure out where to do. I was just letting the road take me wherever it leads me to. Maps are available but they need to be purchased. Beside the cluster of buildings along Kunming Lake is Wanshou Hill 万寿山.

Trail up Wanshou Hill

Trail up Wanshou Hill

There weren’t any real sign pointing the way but I just followed a flight of stairs which led up the hill. It wasn’t a particularly tall hill, I was hoping that you would get a wonderful views from the top of the hill. Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of tourist traffic on the way up the hill, which made me wonder if I was on the right path. There were a few people along the way but the flag toting tour groups were nowhere in sight. I could hear them below which made me realize just how disruptive they were. In the end, managed to find my way to the main sight, I guess, there isn’t really much chance of getting lost here, just many ways to getting to the same place.

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