The Zehrens Go Global

Beijing ~ July 10

We got a late start today. It was really humid and hot today the sun made an appearance as well! First stop was the post office which was a challenge in and of itself to mail a few post cards. We then went to a huge mall to get some pizza because the kids were begging for some food they are familiar with. The cheese pizza was awful. Kallin ordered banana pizza which was actually tasty. After that it was Chinese Dairy Queen! Not too bad.

From there we made our was to the subway to the Summer Palace. As we were well on our way, we realized that our nice expensive camera was missing. The family member who was in charge of the camera will go unnamed. Anyways we still have our cheaper camera and IPhones to take pictures
with. Thank goodness it wasn’tHailey that got lost! Camera are replaceable.

Once we arrived at the Summer Palace we were approached by many guides offering their services. We chose a Chinese college student named Frank who was delightful. Frank is the second son and his father had to pay a fine of 3000 yuan for having a second child. I would venture to say Frank was well worth the 3000 yuan his father spent. He is a chemistry major and helping support his family through his guide services.

Anyways, the Summer Palace is where the emperors came during the summer to escape the heat (although it was still hot and humid here). It isn’t really far from the Forbidden City — just north of Beijing. It is immense and gorgeous. Lots of trees and a huge man made lake. This is quite a feat when you realize the lake was made in the early 1700’s. There was a nice breeze coming from the lake and much more pleasant than the Forbidden Palace. It was constructed in a Tibetan style. It
was probably the most beautiful of the sites we have seen in the city of Beijing.

The longest covered walkway in the Guineas Book of World Records is here and ornately painted with lovely scenes. There is also the marble boat which some empress built instead of spending it on her navy. We went for a boat ride on the lake which helped cool us a little. It really was a beautiful relaxing serene place and immensely huge.

John, Kallin and Zoe had very deep conversations with Frank about Communism and Democracy. We learned that the Chinese do vote for representatives who ultimately select their Chairman. We had a lovely couple hours with our guide Frank at the Summer Palace.

We hopped onto a few rickshaws and headed to the subway. From there we took the train to Hou Hai Lake which we heard was a pleasant place. When we went into the subway, it was sunny. When we reached our destination and surfaced there were dark rain clouds and wind. We flagged down two rickshaws who brought us to the lake. What a delightful surprise!! There are bike rentals (1, 2 & 3 seaters) and paddle boats to rent. There are tons of Bars, restaurants and stores all lining the shores of the lake. Beautiful weeping willow trees are blowing in the breeze. John wanted to rent bikes immediately but Stacy protested with the looming rain clouds. 15 minutes later there was a downpour of rain. We ran into the closest bar and are now chilling out drinking Chinese beer. Much to our delight they have wi-fi!

The rain has finally let up so we will pay the check soon and head out. We still have to make it back to the apartment. Maybe a late night swim for the kids??

Last full day in China tomorrow 😦 Maybe we will return here to to rent bikes!