Historical Park and Preserve

Guayaquil Downtown area Historical Park and Preserve Page 2 Iguana Park Waterfront The Historical Park and Preserve in Guayaquil is intended to present architecture from the 1800’s that was typical in Guayaquil. It also presents animals and birds found in the Ecuadorian jungles.  Many of these species are endangered due to population expansion.  These pagers … Read more

Beijing Duck

Our last dinner of the tour was a Beijing Duck dinner. This table setting was typical for all our Chinese dinners. Note the large glass turn-table in the center.  The food was placed on it and you rotate togged what you wanted. Occasionally you ended up with the spoon in your hand and the dish on … Read more

Olympic Village

We stopped on the way back to get a birds eye view of the Olympic Village. The first things we spotted from the bus were the Olympic sign and the torch stand The bus pulled into a small parking area and we were able to go up on a overpass and get a nice view … Read more

Tea Ceremony

After visiting the Summer Palace we again boarded the bus and after a brief shopping excursion we were treated to a Tea Ceremony where we sampled several different types of tea. We tried a variety of teas.  I believe we started with Green, then oolong and on to a scented tea. A bit more about … Read more

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is  dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. Longevity Hill is about 200 feet high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The central Kunming Lake covering .85 square miles was entirely man made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill We boarded a Dragon Boat to cross the lake. Yeah, … Read more

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, lying at the city center and just North of Tienanmen Square  and called Gu Gong in Chinese, it was the imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu  in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ancient Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple … Read more

Beijing-Day one.

Our first full day in Beijing, April 19, 2013, was a busy one.  First we visited Tiananmen Square.  Then across the street to the 183 acre Forbidden City.  Next back on the bus and on to the Summer Palace and finally to a Formal Tea Ceremony.  We will start with Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is the … Read more