01.07.2005 REFERRAL!!!
03.03.2005 Travel Plans!
03.11.2005 Arrived in Beijing
3.12.2005 More on Trip
3.12.2005 Touring Beijing
3.13.2005 Second Day Beijing
3.14.2005 We Have Maya!
3.15.2005 It's Official!
3.16.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop!
3,17.2005 AM Museum
3,17,2005 PM Mother's Love
3.18.2005 Nanning Zoo
3.19.2005 Green Mountain Park
3.20.2005 Paperwork, Park, & P
3.21.2005 Guangzhou
3.22.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop!
3.23.2005 Last Day in China!
3.23/24.2005 The Journey Home
3.24.05 DFW Homecoming
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We had a long and wonderful day touring Beijing today. We started at 8 a.m., and finished at 5:30 p.m., and saw the Summer Palace, the pandas at the Beijing Zoo, and the Temple of Heaven. We had lunch at a special restaurant that serves food from one of the 56 minority groups in China and had a floor show, to boot! Our biggest problem today was trying to stay warm enough! Though this is the start of Spring in Beijing, we had high temperatures only in the low 40s. We bought warm clothes for Zoe at the department store across the street from the Sino-Swiss Hotel, but warm clothes in my size are a little hard to come by in China! Still, with multiple layers of the few clothes we had in our carry-on luggage, some borrowed things from travel mates, and clothes our guide, Veronica, was nice enough to bring from her home (I'm terribly worried that her mother and her father have no warm clothes left), we managed to stay pretty warm. In the sun, and out of the wind, we were acually toasty-warm. But it was sometimes a little hard to find those sunny calm spots!
The Summer Palace is gorgeous -- definitely fit for the Dowager Empress. I remember visiting here in 1991 on my grand tour of the East. But it was lots of fun to see it through Zoe's eyes. When our guide told us that one of the paintings along the Long Corridor was of the Monkey King, she scanned each one intently until we finally found it!
After the Summer Palace, we visited the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. When sharing her pick for "What did you like best today," Zoe picked the pandas! We got there just at their lunchtime, so we did see the pandas do a little more than sleep!
After the Zoo, we headed out for our special lunch at the restaurant featuring cuisine of the Diao minority group. The lunch was wonderful, but I'm not sure Zoe ate a single bite -- she was mesmerized by the dancers. They were lovely, though I'm not sure the costumes were quite what is worn for authentic Diao folk dances! Some of the men in the audience were selected by the dancers to join them on stage, as this picture attests:
(I had to include this picture, since he-who-would-prefer-to-remain-anonymous swore that no such photo would be added to HIS family's webpage, since HE was the webmaster!).
Following the lunch, we visited the ubiquitous pearl showroom. During the initial demonstration about freshwater pearls (including the fact that most are grown not for jewelry, but to be ground into pearl powder, which is supposed to have many medicinal uses). Zoe and her new friend Maia were given the two "best" pearls from the oyster that the demonstrator opened for us -- as you can see (or not!) the pearls were teeny-tiny, but the girls were excited to get them. (OK, I admit it -- Zoe's expression pretty much says, "You mean I came all the way to China, and all I get is this teeny-tiny excuse for a pearl?!" But really, inside, she's very excited!).
The Temple of Heaven followed the visit to the pearl showroom. Zoe made a new friend -- the mother and grandmother of this cutie really wanted her picture with Zoe.
First, they sat her on Zoe's lap, but Zoe was practically invisible behind her! So they plopped her next to Zoe. It was pretty funny -- usually it is the blue-eyed blondes that the Chinese want to be photographed with (we had LOTS of supermodels in our group today!). But this family DEFINITELY wanted Zoe!
Seated next to Zoe in that photo is another new friend, Savannah. She is in our travel group and Zoe adores her. Luckily, Savannah loves kids and positively doted on Zoe! In fact, Zoe was doted on by everyone in our travel group! She had a great time being the center of attention. I well remember the days before getting Zoe -- I would have doted all over her too!
At the Temple of Heaven, there is the Circular Mount, with a raised spot in the center where the Emperor went each year to make wishes to the heavens. We all took turns standing there to send our wishes skyward. Among the many wishes that lost luggage would be found (!) came Zoe's sweet wish -- "I wish for my baby sister Maya to be happy." Makes lost luggage supremely unimportant, doesn't it?
Tomorrow, it's the Forbidden City, Tian'enmen Square, and the Great Wall!
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