Sunday, July 10, 2016

Tour day 3 of 15. Beijing with Leo. Woke twice in the night. I didn't realize until today when Rob mentioned it, but our hotel rooms do smell faintly of cigarette smoke. I'm surprised that I didn't notice it; usually I'm very sensitive to and intolerant of it. The breakfast buffet at Marriott Beijing City Wall is pretty incredible. Many different stations with lots of different kinds of cuisines. Today was our first full day of our China Spree tour. We rode about 10 minutes to Tiananmen Square where we walked across the square, then entered and crossed the Forbidden City. As we entered, a chorus of angels began singing, and water fountains in the moat magically activated. We visited various points of interest in the Forbidden City. The heat was sweltering, and we visited on a day with about 50,000 others, which seemed pretty crowded to us but Leo told us this was relatively light traffic. Indoor areas were either not air conditioned or poorly air conditioned, making it challenging to continue and somewhat of an ordeal. Our bus driver met us on the opposite side, and we rode a ways, stopping briefly at an ATM so that Dad could get some money (but he was unsuccessful), then alighted to take a rickshaw ride alongside a lake through Beijing's Hutongs neighborhood. We rode a while, then alighted for delicious 11-course Chinese food lunch at the home of Madame Zhou and her husband Mr. Guo. After we ate, we chatted with her a while, learning about the history of her and her home and her family. While exiting, Dad had a little trouble with the steps and skinned his arm a bit. We got it bandaged, and he was shaken but fine after a few minutes. We rode the rickshaw back to our rickshaw starting point, then returned to the bus to drive to the Summer Palace. We walked along the long corridor alongside the lake, stopping at various points to observe historical points of interest, including the marble boat. We rode a large dragon boat back to near our Summer Palace starting point. At this point today I had walked over 14,000 steps, and we all were exhausted, declining a crossing of the 17-arches bridge and a visit to historical sights on the island at its other end. We rode in the bus about 45 minutes to dinner at an elegant restaurant on the top floor of a shopping mall. The restaurant is famous for its Peking duck. If I recall correctly, we are served over a dozen courses. (We later learn that every provided meal on our trip is Chinese food and that every one results in far more food than we can possibly eat in one sitting.) Exhausted from the day's walking and feasting, we declined time for shopping after dinner. We rode in the bus back to the Marriott, catching brief glimpses of the setting sun, lit brilliantly orange. I had brought face masks for everyone, but it seemed we did not need them since the rainy summer season means the air quality is generally better than the other seasons. As today ended, Leo told us with a laugh that we should expect the same amount of exertion every day of the tour. Lani and Rob got just-okay, in-room massages from the hotel spa while the rest of us relaxed in our rooms. To bed. Weather today was 99 degrees Fahrenheit and very humid. Number of steps walked = 16,368.