4/4/05
“You cannot eat shark fin soup and bear claw soup at the same time” (Chinese proverb)

We saw Beijing wake up today thru the seemingly perpetual haze. First a trickle of early birds on their bicycles, then more bicycles and walking school children, and then all of China got on the same road we were using. It certainly felt that way. However, crowded and confusing to the foreign eye, the morning commute was calm, efficient and productive.

After a king’s breakfast of at least 30 buffet choices, we headed out to The Summer Palace. This is where historically, the Chinese nobility of the Qing dynasty vacationed. We took a short cruise on the Kumming lake on a boat shaped like a colorful dragon and walked the length of the longest corridor in the world (half a mile long).