Beijing: Summer Palace, Kung Fu

Yesterday (Saturday, September 1, 2007) Carolyn and I were met at our hotel (the Park Plaza Beijing) by Juana, a lovely woman who had worked as a translator at the Chengdu SF conference, and her friend Dede -- and also by a wonderful guide we'd hired for the day who used the western name Remington. We piled into two cabs and headed off to the glorious Summer Palace



We began by watching a sample of Beijing Opera



The Summer Palace is gorgeous.



Dede, Juana, Robert J. Sawyer, Carolyn Clink



Then we headed back to the city, and took a ride via rickshaw through a hutong -- a traditional Beijing neighborhood.



The hutong visit included a traditional -- and excellent! -- lunch in a family's home ... sort of like a bed-and-breakfast, except you don't sleep over, and it's lunch. :)



Our guide Remington. A full-day of his services costs 280 RMB, which is just US$40; I gave him a US$60 tip (not that any was required or expected), and he was still a bargain.



In the evening, we attended an amazing kung fu show -- really, a play done in pantomime with lots of kung fu in it and a cast of about 30; we weren't allowed to take pictures during the performance, but here's my ticket.

An absolutely perfect day, thanks to Juana and Dede, who arranged everything (including Remington) and were wonderful hosts.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site