Day Two in Beijing

Still feeling a bit jet lagged, I somehow managed to drag Jerry's butt all over Beijing.  We ended up at two parks (Jing Shan and Beihai) seeing a massive amount of temples, towers, lakes, and palaces, and walking that many more miles.  Sunday is a day that many of the locals use the park for singing, dancing, and meditation.  We also lucked up and found a pretty good restaurant with pictures on the menu.... always a bonus.  The food was good and the price was even better. We also saw plenty of Chinese tourist, some who asked Jerry and I to be IN there family photos.  I think we became more of the attraction than the temples.  For the first time, I was able to see first hand how the locals use the restroom.  I thank my lovely tennis team mate, Vicki, for giving me the heads up on the bathroom and toilet paper.  I will spare everyone a photo of the toilets.  The downside of the day was the air pollution and the fact that we could not find a legitimate taxi ride back to the hotel.  As a Westerner, we were immediate targets for every scam on the street.
We ended the day with a planned group dinner with all those who had arrived in Beijing.  This was our first but not last encounter with the Lazy Susan.  The food was OK.  More of the sweet Cantonese and less of the spicy Szechuan that I like.  The restaurant was covered in gold.  Very Bling, Bling!  The saving grace was that it was close to our hotel so a short walk back to finally rest for the day:-)

Day Two Slideshow