We got up at 6 am this morning to get our bags ready for the porters by 7. We had breakfast in the loungs and then met the group in the lobby at 8:30. I had toast with rose pedal jam - actually made from rose petals - it was interesting and good. We met David, Ling, and our group at 8:30 in the lounge, loaded on the bus, and headed to the airport - an hour and 10 minute drive - to catch our plane at 10:20 for Beijing. We arrive early afternoon to begin the Beijing portion of the tour. The Chinese had built a new superhighway outside of the city to the airport and it was really nice. They had already checked our bags but security was a bit lax as our boarding passes didn't even have our own names on them.
We waited about an hour to load on the China Eastern jet for the 80 minute flight to Beijing. The tour had given us a box lunch (with a bottle of water too) that we carried right through security. But the airline offered a hot lunch that was actually pretty good. I had beef with rice while Tim had pork with noodles.
We arrived in Beijing right on time, waited while the tour retrieved our bags and then we met Jennifer, our local guide. She explained that there are 15M people in Beijing and we saw cranes everywhere for all of the construction that is underway. They now laugh and say "the crane" is the national bird. Lots of new high rises, new highways, and renovation of existing buildings in preparation for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. I have a feeling that they will do a very good job preparing.
We drove to a huge park that housed the Temple of Heaven. This temple was actually a group of temples with the most beautiful being the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. There were 22 emperors who came here to pray for their people. The walkway to the temple was so interesting as many people were there singing and playing instruments of all sorts. One large group of older Chinese people were singing loudly and even had a conductor. Jennifer told us that they were singing The Chairman Mao Song and they do this every day. They were smiling and singling loudly - over and over - and this was GREAT!
After our visit to the temples we walked back to the bus. On the way I bargained on a Chairman Mao watch - from 150 to 50 yuan, and a Tshirt (Beijing Olympics 2008) for 20 yuan. We took a 20 min ride to the St Regis Hotel where we will stay for the next 4 nights. On arrival in our room, I had a fun surprise - a bottle of wine from Chris and Leslie with a card - "Happy 28th Birthday for the 33rd time! We are thinking of you - Love, Chris and Leslie". That was a special moment and I love those my children so much.
We changed for dinner and met our group in the executive lounge at 5 for cocktails. It ended up that cocktails didn't start until 5:30 so we shared stories with others in our group. Finally, "the butler" - Clark - took our drink orders. I asked Clark how he got his English name and he told me from Superman - he loves Clark Kent. I introduced him to the rest of the group and he loved that. We kidded him about this and befrinded him. He started making the drinks stronger too!
We loaded on a bus at 6:30 to go to The Courtyard Restaurant just outside the walls of the Forbidden City. It was a lovely Western-style restaurant with original art pieces on the wall. We all enjoyed dinner but overate again. Tim and Paul had to pay an outrageous price for the wine that we enjoyed.
On the walk to the restaurant we saw a "special barbershop" - a business that looks like a barber shop but has hookers working there. You can get a massage with a "happy ending" there! We laughed about this. We also saw a verterinary hospital that excited Karl. We walked to the Night Market - a long block full of food stalls selling all kinds of exotic foods - snake, scorpions, centepedes, grubs, and many other things that were inedible for us. I didn't even want to think about it. But Karl ate 3 scorpions that were deep fried and he said tasted like french fries - all he needed was ketchup. I kidded Karl and told him that they were aphrodisiacs so we had fun joking about that too.
We got back on the bus and returned to the hotel about 10 pm. At the hotels we have stayed at we have been warned not to use the water from the tap to brush our teeth as it may not be purified. So we only use bottled water that is purified.
Another fabulous day. Tomorrow the highlight for me - The Great Wall of China.
Larry
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