Today we visited Chaoyang Park, right across the street from our hotel. Once you get inside the park, it is pretty unbelievable how much there is! We decided it would be nice to rent a motorized boat and investigate all the lakes and narrow canals inside the park. Captain Jenna was a fantastic helmswoman. She even drove us right beside the Olympic tennis complex!
We followed the boat ride with a spin on a 4-seat, peddle-powered "car". Jenna steered the car while John and Jamie supplied the horsepower. Wow, was that hard work! We got lots of smiles as our 5 year-old chauffer whizzed by pedestrians, bikers, work trucks, and other peddle-cars. Surprisingly, she was a really great driver even though it tested Jamie's nerves a bit!
We overcame our first travel-crisis en route to dinner. John’s pants ripped while getting into the taxi so the rest of the family waited at promise-land, aka Starbucks, while he searched for a needle & thread in the street stalls surrounding Houhai Park. Do you know how difficult it is to ask folks for a needle and thread in China!? Jamie and the girls waited about 40 minutes, but the story of how John self-repaired his pants while sitting on a stool in a busy Chinese dress shop was worth it.
Our adventures never cease, but we enjoy every one of them.
Note: There aren't any pictures for this entry since we lost our camera before downloading the pics!
China's Flag
Map of China