Sunday: Part One - Summer Palace

All meals were included in our Beijing tour package. Breakfast each day was in the hotel basement. Typical tour group fare. The japanese and korean members from other tour groups appeared to really enjoy the breakfast, however Misterpiggy found breakfast to be less than appetizing.

Misterpiggy's tour guide for Beijing introduced himself as Adam Weaver (considering he was native chinese, the members of the tour group all found that to be rather weird) and always referred to himself in the third person (hey, that sounds like Misterpiggy!). Adam's only mission on the tour was to ensure that everyone was accounted for. He did not appear to be people oriented, and even remarked on the bus that he did not like people. He dutifully regurgitated facts and figures about china and it's history, but avoided answering any questions, which would have thrown him off his speeches, which he obviously memorized. At one point he even made the comment that Japanese people were not welcome in China (due to world war II). It seemed to be a personal comment, and fortunately there were no japanese people in our tour group. It was just an odd thing to hear from a tour guide.

First stop on the Beijing tour was a visit to the Summer Palace.  

Kunming Lake.

Marble Boat.

Busy crowds.

Summer Palace.