Day 5, we went and cosplayed at the Summer Palace which was sooooo cool. We posted the photos from the Summer Palace shoot a while back on the HCC LJ, so these photos are just going to be of us walking around.
We woke up bright and early and got into make-up and hair. We actually debated if we wanted to walk through the street of Beijing looking like idiots, but there was no way we were going to manage hair and make-up there so that was decided pretty quick.
We got stared at a lot. Although Marcus (who walked behind us the whole time just so he could see it all) said it wasn’t any more staring than Judy and Aimee were getting every other day we’d been in Beijing.
The Summer Palace is HUGE. I think it would take at least 2 full days to see it all. We decided to do the canal section first with the cute village along the water.
First order of business: find an out of the way area to change! Good thing we’re good at changing anywhere. o_O BTW, a husband is the best cosplay accessory ever. He doubles as a clothing rack and sherpa! <3
The people who worked at the Summer Palace were thrilled to see us. Some of the shop keepers chased us down for photos. It was really cute. =D
We found a pretty rock formation to take photos on and Marcus got a crash course in how to use my Rebel.
One of the shop keepers selling wind instruments. I kind of wish I had gotten a flute. Not sure what I would have done with it but it was so pretty looking and sounded cool.
The boats on the canal were driven by that one oar in the back. I was pretty psyched to see it cause I’ve actually never seen it done in real life, I’ve only seen it in movies. =D The pedestrian walkway had a little drawbridge too so the boats could get out.
We were popular with the other tourists! =D
Except for Aimee’s purse, it could be a scene from a period movie! =D
You can’t tell in these photos because we tried to pick less populated spots, but it was bananas crowded that day. I dunno where all the people came from. It was a work day!
A couple photos that aren’t on the HCC LJ.
We decided to climb up to the temple way up there.
Kinda steep!
Hi Judy!
Look at the smog. Ugh. It wasn’t even as bad as it could have been when we were there because it was still early spring.
We took 2 different versions of this shot and the other one came out better, but I thought I’d stick this one here too. You can kinda see Aimee and Judy crouched on the other side holding my ribbons. =D
One last photo before we de-bunny.
And then it was food time!
Look, someone else in costume! We got the sense there were places you could rent costumes to walk around in because the people we talked to weren’t surprised to see us in costume, but were pretty floored that we had made our own costumes.
The Dowager Empress’ theater.
I wouldn’t want to ride in one of these. Hi claustrophobia.
The infamous Marble Boat. The Dowager Empress was given money to build a navy to defend China and instead, she spent it on building this marble boat (that doesn’t really do anything other than look good.) Needless to say, she was one of the last rulers of China before the revolution.
The boat really was pretty though…
The flowers were blooming all over Beijing and Aimee took a lot of photos of the flowers. =D
A couple last photos of the canal area.
And we finished off the day by teaching Aimee how to play mahjong! =)
