In – out
(Man walking the corridors of the Summer Palace: Beijing, China)
The Summer Palace is another world of strange and exciting prospects. Proportions and scale are warped, colours are almost saccharine in their intensity and the whole place basks in an air of Godlike superiority. I was trying to get my photograph framed correctly (and I failed both times) but during that time, a man walked right across my empty canvas – he was so swift that if I wasn’t looking through my lens, I would have almost missed him completely.
It was near the palace, in a nearby park where we ate at the almost legendary FangShan Imperial restaurant. Mum and Jane refused the fourteen course dinner with camel hump, so I had to settle for less daring dishes. They were still abundant and delicious, presented beautifully in a kitschy, mock palatial interior. We were seated next to a gold, spray-painted wood and metal throne of serpentine dragons. Their whiskers were made of curled wire that had become exposed from heavy photo opportunities. As we left the restaurant, several girls in Empress garb were performing a dance for fellow diners. That evening was pretty surreal as a whole and we left it to trudge our full bellies down the magnificent painted corridors of Beihei Park.
– Today Rosie is back in Glasgow, Scotland –
