Day Three

Today we hopped on the bus feeling a bit bleary eyed and wobbly. We had done a lot of walking yesterday, and some of our group crashed back at the hotel never to be seen until the following morning (me)!

Others took a nap, and met up with the group to go to a restaurant where they thought they'd be having another typical Chinese dinner, which they did. What they didn't realize is that following the dinner, the restaurant turns into a combination side show-dance performance where ladies on stage were hurling themselves about balancing pots on their heads accompanied by strange extra terrestrial shreiks...some said it was sort of like a "Whirling Dervish a la Las Vegas" performance. This morning our friends are still shaking their heads and trying to process what they witnessed.

First stop today was The Temple of Heaven which is set amongst a 670 acre park. As we disembarked from the bus we were startled to see hundreds upon hundreds of people (senior citizens) taking part in a wide variety of early morning exercises. A huge section of an "adult playground" had retirees doing stretching, gymnastics, dancing...all the while laughing and chatting away. An ideal environment promoting a Sound Body and Sound Mind - combining fitness with social opportunities!

I will say more than once we found ourselves noting that we weren't seeing any obese Chinese...

Afterward, we made a requisite stop at a Tea house where we received a lengthy discussion of the origins of tea followed by sipping a few varieties. Suffice it to say the Simon brothers got a little "punchy" which set off the rest of us, and though we all made a few purchases I think it's fair to say the owners were dancing a little jig when we headed out the door.