The Summer Palace
Trip Start
Jul 10, 2007
1
4
46
Trip End
Mar 11, 2008
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Beijing,
China
Saturday, July 14, 2007
I felt like starting all of my entries in Beijing with: "It was a cold and foggy morning". However, at 36 degrees and high humidity, I can drop the word "cold" but the fog part stays and here it is mixed with a lot of smog. We have yet to see the sun and on this third day in Beijing, the air is really burning our throat.
What a mad rush to visit the Summer Palace and the Zoo (kids' choice - had to) in one morning so we did the skate board tour of the grounds. This is one of my father's museum visiting techniques. Again the buildings are magnificent works of art and historically rich. We took a short boat ride on the dug-out lake: an engineering wonder for the time it was built.
Our organized Mr Li took us to a restaurant where we tasted rice cooked in bamboo..such a sweet treat! We were thankful that Mr Li ordered for us as we are not literate in Asian lingo. Thank goodness for our driver as he helped us gain some sense of normalcy and lessen the time warp shock of traveling across the globe.
The Beijing Zoo was another story - the animals are cramped in very small quarters and cleanliness is not an important issue. The large cats look depressed lying in their cages and the smell around them is pungent. We did see some pandas and gorillas but were not quite sure who was observing whom?
Mr Li had another business venture and he graciously asked us if he had any interest in visiting it. Ty FORCED me to acquiesce and we on our merry way to Mr. Li's antique warehouse. What an experience to see all of the exquisite Asian furniture at such a reasonable price (except of course for one who is backpacking around the world). We simply had to purchase something (I will blame Ty for this..although I was there and chose most if the items). Mr Li would ship our "stuff" to Canada next February.
After this mad rush, we were off to the airport. What a way to spend the first four days. We would have to return to China a or a lengthier stay.
Thailand-Bangkok
The trip over in a 747 was a very comfortable ride on Thai Airways - top quality! Cameras are attached outside to the belly of the plane so we saw the take-off and landing on the video screen. There were some complaints from the "New travelling critics"... "Maman, the seats are too narrow and they don't recline". Of course, if you remember, we were upgraded on our last transcontinental flight. Knew this would happen!
We arrived in Bangkok at midnight hungry and tired - seems to be a pattern here. Well, the night in Bangkok is exactly how they describe it in songs...gray, littered, busy and it doesn't seem to sleep. Hope it looks better during the day.
Comments
Really?
There are songs about Bangkok?