Ice fun

Today I took a long walk through several of Beijing’s parks. With the recent temperature drops, the parks are opening up for ice skating. Some lakes in Beijing have stagnant water and with the windy conditions the ice is getting over 15 cm thick, safe for people to walk on the ice. Bei Hai Park was a summer playground and imperial garden for many emperors for more than 1000 years. It is located next to the Forbidden City and opened in 1925 to the public. In Bei Hai Park ice skating is not allowed but you can still hit the ice on a bingche, a chair mounted on ice-skates. The coolest thing I saw however were these ice bikes. From Bei Hai I walked to the adjacent Hou Hai park were ice skating was allowed and the lake was crowed with people having fun. Take a look at the attached pictures. One guy was clearing a stretch of ice for what might have been a swim. However, I got cold waiting for him to take a dip and decided to move on and get myself a cup of hot tea. Stay warm.