1st May.
Some of our group got up early and went to watch the Beijing locals
practice their exercises in the park, then the rest of us joined the group
and went to a silk factory where we learned about the interesting process
of silk making. There were lots of items on sale and some of our group
took the opportunity to buy gifts for friends and family.
We then went to the Summer Palace; a beautiful place with a lake, surrounded by willow
trees and black-swans swimming (this setting was the inspiration of the
Willow design seen on so many china plates).
We then took a ride on the dragon boat across the lake. We were amazed at how busy the place was, we were told that 86,000 people visited daily and were amused that we became minor celebrities for the day as people came up to touch our white skin and blonde hair and took lots of photos of us.
We then had a walk through Beijing city itself which was packed with people (the population of Beijing is over 21 million people, which is a quarter of the population of the whole of England).
We stopped outside of the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium, but the smog was so thick that day that the photos look quite eery.
