Day 6 - The Summer Palace

Today was a slower pace - at 9am we left the hotel for the Summer Palace. We had to walk a couple of blocks to the bus since they had a parade to open a new shopping mall on the street next to our hotel. It was quite a long drive and once we got there it seemed like we just moved and waited. I did have my first Magnum bar - it's an ice cream bar - the quality of a Dove bar, the chocolate is so yummy.

I can't tell you too much about the inside of the Summer Palace, it was really hard to hear Ina. The little I know is that the last three emperors were childless, someone was exiled in a small compound within the summer palace for 10 years and women were only allowed to leave the house if their father or husband said they could. The gardens are the best feature of the Summer Palace. There are these large boulders that look like swiss cheese; I really like these. After standing around and waiting a few more times, we boarded a boat to the south island. They sang My Heart Will Go On again and I - the mistress of stoicism - started to cry. I never used to like that song - probably because I can't stand Celine Dion - but it just struck me how beautiful it was and how wonderful it was to be surrounded by such talent. I was glad I was wearing sunglasses - then Robert posed like Leonardo DiCaprio and I started laughing and then really started laughing when Jeff got behind him and they did the Kate Winslet/Leo DiCaprio pose.

We ate at a Subway/SPR Coffee house. The coffee house part was really cool, everyone decided they'd hang out there if it was in O.C. The espresso was very good, freshly ground and hand pressed. From there we went to the Birds Nest (Olympic Stadium) - very cool. I think one of the things you'll notice from the pictures of the stadium and summer palace is the smog. It's interesting that the Birds Nest, Swim Cube and Gymnastics buildings are so close together. I'm used to the U.S. where it's all so spread apart. I'm sure they had to "relocate" folks, I cant' imagine there was that much real estate available in the heart of the city.

There are sooo many ginromous malls in China and with high-end stores - really high end. One of them looks like a Las Vegas hotel at night - in fact Beijing at night reminds me a lot of Las Vegas. Capitalism is alive and well in China. I've also seen a couple of Century 21 Real Estate offices. I'm not sure I get that - since the government owns everything.

This evening we ate at restaurant owned by some Christians - the food was authentic and some of it interesting. We started with a cold noodle, bok choy and peanut salad - spicy. Then another cold noodle salad - this time it was brown glass noodles. Then they brought out 1000 yr old eggs - pickled eggs that are brown in color - not appetizing looking and it smells putrid, but actually doesn't taste like much - not that I ate all of it, but I am the only one at our table that even tried a piece. We had a spicy chicken and bok choy soup (the chicken had bones that reminded me of vertebrae), another noodle soup with egg and boiled sausage, an Egg, bean sprout and jasmine dish, a couple of kebabs and beef stew (with potatoes and carrots). I liked it, but I might be the only one.

The group sang at a Christian restaurant - It's a high-end restaurant and very open with it's faith statement. In the room we used for the green room, there are murals that cover the wall that quote scripture. We all can't believe that they have a restaurant like this in China where so many churches have to hide - yet in America where we (currently) have freedom of religion we aren't so open with our faith in businesses. I guess it's true that churches flourish where believers are persecuted. The group started of with secular songs and then got into the Christian tunes. At the beginning, the sound was so loud, it was distorted and painful. I tore up tissue and stuck it in my ears. After a couple of songs they turned it down. The restaurant has wireless, so I spent my time in the green room uploading pictures to Picasa.