Prince Gong's Mansion

Yikes, my deepest apologies for not updating at all in a while! Things have been a bit busy here as of late, with an ever-growing amount of my time being spent with my nose buried in a book of some sort more than anything else. Still, I'm finding opportunities here and there to do things that are actually worth reporting back home about. 

Just last Friday morning, I paid a visit to Prince Gong's mansion, a residential compound that formerly belonged to one of the brothers of one the the Qing emperors, and the only mansion of its type that's actually open to the public. As usual, I woke up early, but not simply because I'm usually an early riser, but because this place gets absolutely flooded with tourists and tour groups. I should know, for I actually tried visiting this place a week ago to no avail, for it was absolutely close to bursting with a solid mass of humanity. 

Probably the biggest draw to the mansion by far is its exquisite garden, located in the back of the compound. 

After making my way to the small pond located inside the garden, it didin't take me to realize that the pond came fully equipped with....

Actually, let me put it this way- I now present to you a little something titled "A Completely Unnecessary Number of Photographs Featuring Ducks."

The End (of the duck pictures)

This has been a work of Staysniak Productions. 

....Anyway, about half-an hour later, at least, I finally remembered that there was actually a garden for me to take a gander around in.

While all very scenic and pretty indeed....being the uncultured and unsophisticated swine that I am, my favorite part of this little tour was the plethora of the ducks and their chorus of quacking that filled the air, which filled me with the same type of infantile joy one should only expect to find in a three-year-old. 

Needless to say....once I got back to campus just in time for lunch, it didn't take too long for me to realize that I had already reached the high point of my day. 

It's not as if the rest of the day was terrible or anything, it's just that ducks are so darn amusing. 

C'mon. Admit it. 

You know you want to.