Exploring Beijing

November 5, 2004

So much for taking it easy! We met up with two more adoptive familes. As a group of 9 adults and one five-year-old, we rented a bus and a driver from the hotel to take us to the Summer Palace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace . The bus only cost us $10 a person, so it was quite a bargain. I felt better about traveling in a group. Most of the other families would be arriving throughout the day. Today was technically a free day and tomorrow was a scheduled tour of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.

The Summer Palace was teeming with tourists, mostly Chinese. As soon as we got off the bus, we were greeted with "Hello guys." "Hello, want to buy postcards?" and they were in our faces. After we got past these people we were beset by people wanting to be our tour guide. We politely but firmly said no.

I had my first experience with a squat toilet also known as squatty potty. Basically it is a hole in the ground. You are supposed to straddle it, squat and go. Well, I kind of cheated as I was afraid I would pee on myself. I took one leg out of my pants and underwear, squatted and peed. As I squatted, my sunglasses fell off of my shirt neckline and flew under the door. I hear a chattering of laughter. When I came out an older woman was cleaning the floor. She was laughing and pointing to the glasses. I laughed too and picked them up.

We walked up thousands of stairs and then walked down a thousand stairs. Lots of walking here and it was nice to get back on the bus and go to the hotel. We all planned to meet for dinner later this evening.