We were up before the chickens this morning. The phone call wake up alarm rang at 4:15 am. Since we packed last night there was nothing much to do but get dressed and face the morning. By 4:30 we were dressed and pulling our check in luggage to the elevators. Strangely, we were not the first ones down, several folks had beat us to the lobby. We dropped off our keys and were directed to get our breakfast bags. Our ever vigilant guide, Jo, had pre-ordered a breakfast bag for each of us. Even more thoughtful she had the staff prepare two pots of caffeine for those so addicted. The breakfast bag consisted of three Danish, one croissant, one piece of fruit (banana or apple), water, and two hardboiled eggs. Hearty by anyone's standards. Rick shared ... read more

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, 7AM. Actually not bad, we have seen 6:30 wake up calls earlier this week. The weather was perfect, clear, dry, and pleasant temperature of 72 degrees. We hit the bus around 8 AM for our short drive to the Buddhist temple known as the Goose Pagoda. Breakfast was another extravaganza. J The name, Goose Pagoda, comes from a Tibetan legend. There were two sects of monks. One ate no meat, one ate meat. One day, the group that ate meat had no meat to eat. One of the monks lamented to the Great Buddha, asking why they had no meat to eat. He implored the Buddha to help them out of this terrible trouble. At that very instant, a flock of geese were flying by and the lead Goose fell ... read more

Today was our last day in the beautiful capital city of Beijing. The morning was clear and we got to sleep in a little, all the way to 7:30. Before we left for breakfast we had to pack our belongings and put our checked baggage in the hall by 8:00 AM so that they can be loaded into the bus for our afternoon ride to the airport. More on that later, now breakfast. Again we began the day with a sumptuous feast in our hotel. Today they added a new item, fresh made juice in a veg o magic machine. They offered such choices as pineapple, watermelon and cucumber as well as a bright orange carrot juice. I opted for the watermelon. It was OK, but not worth it, in my opinion. I dined on fruits, ... read more

Monday April 4 Beijing China Today was our first real day of touring and it was a killer! Anyone who says taking a tour is a great vacation has never been on a tour! Our day started at 6:30 AM with a wake up call from our tour guide Jo who ushered us down to a buffet breakfast at the hotel. Buffet does not do this dining extravaganza justice. There was a wide varity of both Asian and Western foods from which to choose. The menu included: eggs prepared fresh or over easy, made to order omletts, Asian noodles and dumplings (both fresh and cooked before your eyes), a very wide variety of fresh baked breads, cold cuts of every kind, cheeses for you to cut yourself, waffles with various toppings and on and on. There ... read more

I wanted to get some insight on the local customs in China, so I called folks that live in Maryland. You see one is married to a young lady who was born and raised in Hong Kong, not exactly China, but I figured she would at least be aware of any customs I should be aware of. So I gave her a call and explained my mission. She was very helpful. She said that it is a custom to give a small gift when you visit the home of a local family. Since we were going to visit some locals and learn how to make Chinese food, this was perefect. The only problem I had was what to give them. She had several excellent suggestions on do's and dont's. Don't give a knife, or a pear, ... read more