This weekend Beijing escaped the heat of the city and retreated to Miyun reservoir an hour and a half north of the city for the Summer Jam Party. You can view the photos I took at the event by clicking here.

Having had a relatively quiet Friday evening, Ivan, myself and Robbie met up with David, Henri, Dragana at around 2pm before heading off in convoy towards Miyun. Dragana had arranged rooms for us in a hotel on the other side of the reservoir from the party, which we found after some difficulty. Having expected the usual grim hotel tower block, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it was a very peacefull coutyard guesthouse which was very basic but perfect for relaxing away from the city.

We proceeded to have a late lunch in the restaurant attached to the hotel since many of us, expecially Robbie, were getting irritable from hunger, and it was only after the Pastis was broken into that moods began to relax. After a torrential (but thankfully brief) downpour which for a moment looked like it might disrupt the evening party, we headed off around the reservoir to the party just as the sun was going down.

The party was great fun with David (FR) and David (NZ) playing the Congas and Sax respectively over the live music, and to cut a very long story short we had a fantastic night behaving like idots until the sun came, which I should add was spectacular.

After heading back to the hotel in the early morning for some sleep we were up again and on the move by noon (impressive all things considered!). We then headed back to the hotel where the party was to meet Siska, Tamsin et al, who were planning on walking down to the reservoir for a swim. We managed to find a guy who would show us a good place to swim since it is strictly forbidden. Unfortunately half way through our dip a 4WD pulled up on the other side of the bay so we were forced to hotfoot it off in the other direction to avoid being stung with the supposed 3000 RMB (each!) fine.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a coutyard while we waited for the reservoir authorities to leave, who had decided to stake out the cars. Later Ivan, Robbie and I headed back to the hotel from the previous night where we had dinner watching the Grand Prix. We then mustered our last remaining energy to fall into the car and drive back to Beijing. All in all it was an excellent weekend and one that reminded us all how much fun can be had away from the Beijing bustle.