Today started out as a rough day. Neither one of us slept well and I was downright cranky. But, after a laugh during breakfast at my expense, things got better. At breakfast, I was scooting up to the table and I heard a loud crack that sounded like a branch snapping. Come to find out later, I had broken a leg off of the chair. This was resolved with almost humorous efficiency. Apparently, an assistant chef and the hotel manager knew the poor chair's leg was broken before I did. When I stood up to leave the table, the assistant chef caught the chair, whisked it away, replaced it and the manager just grinned and nodded his head.
Things did get better, we met in the lobby with Bing (Our Guide) and our driver, Mr. Lao. Bing is wonderful and patient and Mr. Lao drives through the Beijing traffic like Fred Astaire gliding across a dance floor. If he hadn't been driving, I would have had my eyes clamped shut and holding onto the seat with a death grip. They took us to a really nice museum and on a tour of one of the local temples.
Also, between the two tours we had lunch at a fabulous local resteraunt, with the local people, Bing, and Mr. Lao. And guess what, Karen tried a couple of small bites of Chinese food and liked it. This was also an experience, because we all would share and eat off of each other's plates.
Bing was also helpful at the hotel. We had a problem with our room being too hot and she talked with the manager. This almost felt embarrassing due to the fact, we ended up with the two of us and Bing, a cleaning lady, a maintenance worker, the manager and the general manager all crammed into our room. But, it all worked out in the end and we really enjoyed the memories of our day.
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