Ni Hao!

Ni Hao! First official day in China! Today we went to the Summer Palace and it was beautiful. Amazing that this was the summer residence of one emperor. The Summer Palace is about a 30 minute drive with traffic. Traffic... OMG, I am not doing well in the car. It is truly amazing that cars, bikes, motor bikes, rickshaws, and pedestrians share the same space!!! We have dodged so many cars and people for a million lifetimes and we are only in day one. The weather is beautiful - warm and mid 80's. After the Summer Palace we went to a pearl shop. Natural water pearl business is very big here. Then it was off to lunch at a real Chinese restaurant. The food was good and we had to learn quickly how to use chop sticks or we wouldn't eat. Jeffrey did eat and agreed it was good. : )

We met our Bethany travel group - 2 families and they are so much fun and easy going. Michael and Brandi are here adopting a 5 yr old little boy and they brought along their 5 yr old son Maddox. Their new son will be their 5th child. Jeff and Charica are adopting their 1st son and he is 2yrs old. Jeff, Michael and Jeffrey are all in the auto industry - we all found this a bit weird. Ha!

After we arrived back at our hotel we ventured off to see what was out there in the great big Beijing (or just within walking distance). Amazing how many shops and restaurants there are on each block. The shops are extremely small. We found a grocery store and took a look-see inside to see what Chinese items were sold and what american items we could find. What an adventure.

Any who, we are going to rest and then grab dinner but after it is off to bed. Crazy what a 12 hour time difference can do to you.

Written with a wet broom on the cement.

At the Summer Palace

Our group at lunch

xoxo from China!


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