Saturday, August 29, 2009

Big infinity pool in Aman's basement & some hotel interiors...






The modern version of Cixi's private lake: luxury infinity pool on one of several sub-levels of the Aman resort...

Back to Aman via hidden gate...





Touring the lake & Dowager Empress Cixi's marble flagship...





One of my favorite stories: After the Chinese fleet was sunk en masse by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Cixi's government instituted a special patriotic tax to raise money for building a modern Chinese navy -- then she used all the tax money to construct her own manmade lake complete with a marble houseboat.  It's nice to know some governments have been even less responsible than our own spending taxpayers' hard-earned money.

More of Aman, including restaurant...





More of the Hotel...





Kunming Lake...





Still more Summer Palace...





The Summer Palace, continued...





The Summer Palace...





More pics of the Hotel...





Pictures of the hotel...