The next day we got an early start, negotiated a better price for the taxi ride to the airport, found our gate, and waited patiently for our flight. We landed in China with no mishaps, got through customs, and wondered what was going to be waiting for us on the other side. Mom had booked a tour but had never really heard back as to who was picking us up or how many other people were going to be in our group. We walked out and were pleasantly surprised to see a man holding a sign with our names on it! We soon discovered that our tour was going to be the four of us with our own personal driver and tour guide. We also soon realized that our tour guide was extremely flexible and switched up our whole schedule in order for us to see as much as we possibly could for the short amount of time we were there. Right from the airport we headed over to the Summer Palace. This is where the Emperor, Empress, his concubines, and eunuchs would head to during the hot Beijing summers. They have a lake here that was dug by hand. With the dirt they took from the lake they built a small mountain and there is a temple on top of the mountain. There are many buildings here and an extremely "Long Corridor" where the Emperor would take walks along the side of the lake to cool off. Harry was a really good guide and pointed out things and told us a lot about the history of all the places we visited. We asked him a lot of questions.
Mom and Dad in CHINA!!!!!
Kaley and I were there too!
Did I mention that it was hot in China? Because it was really hot. It was also REALLY smoggy...the summer is the worst time to go to Beijing....unfortunately it was the only time we could go. We didn't see semi-blue sky the whole time we were there...We were happy to go back to Korea...I was just looking through some more of my pictures and we are all extremely sweaty in most of them. Gross...But we had a lot of fun. After the Summer Palace we went to a pearl factory where we each got a pearl from a oyster that was opened in front of us. I didn't take any pictures at the Pearl Factory...bad tourist...bad.After the Pearl Factory we went to a traditional tea house where we had the opportunity to taste 6 different kinds of tea. We had Ginsing tea, Leechi tea, Jasmine tea, Fruit tea, Black tea, and Green tea. We were taught the proper Chinese way of drinking. Ladies need to have open fingers like a phoenix and men can have closed fingers and we all need to slurp the tea in order to cool it and get the full flavor of the tea. We bought a fair amount of tea here and had a lot of fun.
Dad smells the tea...you have to do that to get the full effect...that was what we were told.
Me showing off phoenix fingers...
Our driver drove us past Olympic village, the bird's nest, the swimming cube, and other Olympic sites...Fun fact...did you know there is a China town in China? Well there is and every time we drove by I missed it by mere seconds that was a picture I really wanted and missed every time! Argh.
We had a free evening so Harry gave us the option of going to a Chinese Acrobat show or going to a Chinese Kung-fu show. We chose the Acrobats because well hello Chinese Acrobats are famous and we are in China so we HAVE to see them. They were amazing! I pretty much sat there with my mouth hanging wide open the ENTIRE show!
Dad, Mom, and Kaley pre amazingness...
After the show we went to have some Peking Duck. It was delicious and the amount of food we were served was ridiculous. There were only four of us at our table and eight or nine people could have eaten off our lazy susan. Dad and mom also got there first official lesson in chop sticks...they are doing pretty well. Here is some proof.
After dinner we headed over to our wonderful hotel. Took showers and crashed...we went to bed with visions of the great wall dancing in our heads...that was on the agenda for the next day...That post soon to come.Holly
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