People out and about in Temple of Heaven Park. Some were exercising, playing cards and doing all kinds of fun things

Me trying this exercise bike like equipment with Steve right at my side helping me on!

Bill stretching

Temple of Heaven

Altar

Bill and other guests learning Tai Chi

Beijing Day 3 Saturday March 24, 2012

Temple of Heaven

This morning we had breakfast with Becky.  It is the first time we have seen here since we left the ship!  After breakfast, Becky went to meet her bus and we headed up to our room to put on our long john pants, get our suitcase and jackets.  We were suppose to meet our guide Steve at 9:00am in the lobby.  We headed down around 8:40am and there he was.  I swear he slept there.  Everyday he has been there early!

We got into the car and headed to the Temple of Heaven.  This is not a Buddhist temple but a temple that the Emperor had built to pray for a good harvest.  It is huge.  There is a huge park all around the temple and being Saturday people where out in droves.  

They have all kinds of activities.  Seniors were learning dancing, other places, people were singing lots of card playing, dominoes and even Mah jong.  The younger people were playing tennis, badmitton and a game like soccer but with something that looked like a birdie!

There are all exercise equipement for the people to get fit.  They pay $15 a year and go whenever.

I tried one machine which was like a walking, skiing machine.  Steve helped me on that was a hoot but it was fun.  Bill tried a few of the other machines.  We walked all around the park the into the temple that was built in 1420.  It was really something!  Unbelievable how they built things back then.  We walked all around the temple then back to the park where the Crystal people were just getting to and they had a Tai Chi demonstration and we got to try.  At this point I was really starting to hurt so I asked if we could just go back to the ship and skip the lunch.   Bill was getting hungry so we went to lunch.  It took 1 1/2 hours with the traffic to get to the hotel for lunch.  The pier was a little over 2 hours away.  We could have been to the ship and have an american lunch.  I have had so much Chinese food, some good some yucky I am starting to look Asian.  Anyway we had the lunch buffet at one of the leading hotels and most of the food was yes you guessed it   Chinese.  So I had a salad and bread.  We left there and were back on the ship by 3pm.  We did think we were going to be killed right near the pier.  I was reading and all of a sudden our driver who was going 80 mph swerved to avoid something that flew off the back of a military truck in front of us.  I looked up in time to see the guard rail so close I held my breath.  Our driver did great never even blinked and we were soon going about like nothing happened.

When our driver stopped the car he helped me out and I gave him a very generous tip.  This man helped me in and out of the car and by the end of the day he could see that I was hurting and he would actually lift my legs into the car before I tried to pick them up.  He was wonderful!

Our guide Steve was another God-Send.  He was right there helping me on all the stairs, walkways and what not  He was fabulous and we learned a lot from him.

We got back to the pier and it was a very large long walk terminal.  Steve walked in with us toting our suitcase and our green Crystal bag and there were all the Crystal people waiting with wheelchairs.  Bill gave Steve a very generous tip and he was sad to see us go.  He gave us his email if we come back or know anyone coming.  I would recommend him highly.  One of the Prego waiters wheeled me to the ship.  Another crew member took the suitcase and Bill walked along.  As we got on the ship it was so touching it brought tears to your eyes.  All the crew were lined up both sides of the entrance and yelling welcome home.  We were greeted with cold towels and hugs.  They deposited us at our cabin and we immediately unpacked.  I ran to the laundry room.  Too late all the machines were taken.  No problem I will do it tonight when the old people are in bed!

We did not know what to expect from China.  Bill does not like Hong Kong so he thought China might be like that.  We were told it is very polluted.  Well maybe the high winds helped but the last two days we had sunny, blue skies.  The people were very friendly and extremely proud of their country!  China has been the highlight of this trip!

Today was a nice relaxing sea day.  Other than my memoir writing class I did absolutely nothing else today!  This evening we had a cocktail party with our travel agency and then Augusto made us a Caesar Salad and his famous pasta. Our senior waiter Chetan climbed the wall but fell in the kitchen today at lunch and hurt his knee so he is out poor guy and our waiter Javier is still not feeling well and I made him promise me he would go see the doctor!  I feel like I am their mother!  Someone has to watch over them after all they take such good care of us!  Had a great dessert and I am ready to call it a night  Tomorrow we will be in Busan, S. Korea.  We were suppose to go to Seoul Korea but the port changed the security because of the summit.  Most world leaders including our President will be in Seoul.  Some of the people are taking the 13 1/2 hour trip by bullet train.  Not us we are going to relax  we might take the shuttle bus or just stay on the trip.  We will be in another part of S. Korea the next day and we have a tour planned.

We also cancelled our trip to Tokyo.  Not going to push it.  But I must say.  The overland adventure to Beijing was part of the price of the cruise but I opted to pay more for a private car, driver and guide and it was the best thing I have ever spent money on.  It worked out so well for me.  No rushing and we were always way ahead of the busses so we did not have the crowds.

Crystal also had busses going just to the wall for the crew. Half went the first day and half went the second day.  We were told about 120 people opted to remain on board for one reason or another.  Some have been here many times before and some just felt that it was to strenuous for them.  So all the crew couldn't go together!  Our headwaiter, senior waiter and stewardess all went and were happy our waiter Javier is not feeling well so he did not go.

Crystal did a wonderful job the busses held 60 people and they only put 30 on each bus.  The hotels were great, tours great and the dinner in the Great Hall of the People was fantastic.

Great Job Crystal Again.  A special thanks to James (Shore Excursion Manager) and his team.  It is not easy moving 800 people to all these places and making it seem effortless!