Touring With Jerry

So today Jerry was our guide again. His political incorrectness continued. We learned ABC describes a woman "Amazing Beautiful and Charming" while a UFO is "Old Fat and Ugly". After that he told one guy he was clever then asked him if he was Jewish and after that he was describing an emperor as "even though he was short he was smart." Jerry also extolled China's one China policy (referring to it as family planning) and made sure we understood the Chinese were so exceptional for coming up with the idea and being the only country to adhere to such magnificane. Remember everyone in the group is adopting, most couples are childless. He further praised the knowledgeable, smart Communists for various envioronmental polices and discussed Taiwan. (Luckily for us today he stayed away from fal un gong and Tibet today.

That aside we did see alot. the zoo was first. We saw the Beijing pandas and then the pandas that were rescued from the earthquake region. They were so cute and cuddly. I wanted to bring one home for Colton. Although Jerry told a story that one panda ate a boy. IThey only eat bamboo and fruit???) Anyway, I decided against it.

Next we hit the Summer Palace. Jerry taught us all about the Dragon Lady (she drank breast milk to stay young) and how she was so ugly but still became an empress. We were all amazed when he told one woman in the group that he could be the Dragon Lady's sister. He also told us more then we needed to know about concubines. The Palace was beautiful. It is on a lake. Our group took a dragon boat across.

After that we went for Chinese food. It was at a restaurant in a large warehouse the outside looked crazy but inside it was beautiful, each table enjoyed various dishes along with beer and soda. Jerry allowed all the men in the group to do shots of Chinese vodka with him. I was told it tasted like turpentine. Jerry seemed to do a shot with each group and was totally buzzed when we got back on the bus.

After the lunch we went to the Pearl Market and then to the Temple of Heaven. It was very beautiful. I have taken many photos to share.

While Jerry was a total nut we learned alot and his memory is not one easily forgotten. Furthermore the ardent communist was all too eager to accept tips from everyone as they were leaving the bus. Noone minded tipping Jerry or compromising his somewhat malleable principles as he was a good guide, tried to do a good job and was very entertaining.

Our tour today was with 31 people. All adopting through Great wall. Yesterday there were just 8 of us. Tomorrow we will have a few more members on our last tour in Beijing and then off to Nanchang to get Claudia. As more and more families arrive it really seems like this is actually going to happen...More later....