Day 1 of the Adventure
We had the buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was a mix of western and Chinese food. Real, fresh squeezed orange juice!
At 10 we went to see our Adventure Guides at the hospitality table. Daisy and Jennae were just setting up when we got there. They welcomed us warmly and once one of us said their name, they knew who the rest of us were. The tour didn't actually start until late afternoon so most of today was a free day. We asked Daisy how to get to the Summer Palace. She recommended a hotel or the subway. She wrote down where we wanted to go for the taxi driver including a message to the driver that asked if he would come back to pick us up in 2 hours and she also showed us how to get there if we took the subway. A family from Costa Rica showed up about then.
We took a taxi to the Summer Palace ... And again ended up in really jammed up traffic. It cost us $70 RMB to get there. We opted not to give them Daisy's message about coming back because we thought we'd try the subway for the return trip. The Summer Palace has the most amazing giant rocks that look like fungus. LOL it is also the place with the infamous marble boat. We walked around the lake, looked at some architecture, watched lots of school children on their outing and saw the marble boat. I wish we had more time there. There were pedal boats and little cruises that looked like fun but we didn't have the time.
We decided not to take subway back afterall. LOL We were lucky and managed to grab a taxi that was dropping some people off. The traffic wasn't as bad going back and was only 50 RMB. My dad and I then walked a couple of blocks to a big mall and had a snack. ROFL a cheeseburger from McDonalds and a coffee at Starbucks.
At 5 pm, we met the group in the lobby before we went to the restaurant across the street. I met a fellow DISer (Margie100) and her family there. We then crossed the street en masse with some Peninsula staff and Daisy throwing themselves in front of traffic so we didn't get wiped out.
We all introduced ourselves and our guides explained the trip, some housekeeping and their backgrounds. We had 2 shadow guides in our group. They'll be starting their guide careers soon but this was their first trip shadowing Daisy and Jennae.
The Tea ceremony was next and we were told the courses to our banquet. LOTS of food. You won't go hungry. When we were finishing up our meal it was time to dress up as the Emperor and Empress for photos. My dad really threw himself into the role of Emperor.
Much fun was had embarrassing ourselves. :rotfl2
Tomorrow is an early start at 8:00 am.
What an experience it must be!
