The group is pretty worn out when we meet our van again and head for lunch. Belinda has found a local place, and does all of the ordering for us. We had lots of tasty veggies, some rabbit, and chrysanthemum tea. Emma was game for everything and had no problem eating the rice/meatballs using her chopsticks.

After lunch, it’s too hot for the Summer Palace, so we detour to a silk factory. Another amazing place where we see them spooling the silk threads from the chrysalis, and where Karen and Emma help stretch and pull silk for the silk quilts that they make and sell here. The quilts are incredibly soft and tempting to purchase, but we decline. We also take in the beautiful silk duvet covers and clothing before heading back to the van and to the Summer Palace.

The Summer Palace is beautiful. Traditional buildings border a large lake, with dragon boats crossing from one side to another. It’s cooler here for sure, and we enjoyed alternating scenes of learning the history (courtesy of Belinda), and keeping a watchful eye while Emma was center stage in a variety of photos with the locals. We could have spent lots more time here, but evening caught up to us and it was time to return to the hotel. Our original plan to see an acrobatic show was scuttled because we ran out of time today.

We bid Belinda good night, and headed out to walk around the neighborhood with Randy and Amy. Just down the street from the hotel there was a whole block devoted to open air food stands. Really local selections available BBQ style on skewers – things like squid (or was it octopus?), scorpion, and snake as well as more traditional fruit and chicken. We were not brave enough to sample the food, but plenty of people seemed to be enjoying it.

Karen Emma and I ran out of steam and started back to the hotel right as a fierce thunderstorm kicked up. We were largely protected under covered walkways as we made our way back to the hotel, but the dust storm that preceded the rain did cover us with a thick coating of grit from the street. Showers and baths were in order, and off to bed by about 8pm.