VacAsian Day Eight (Saturday, 10 May, Beijing)

Today began with a visit to The Summer Palace, the former imperial retreat on the outskirts of Beijing. The weather was perfect, the architecture impressive, and the views breathtaking - literally, as Robin sprinted to the top of the tower overlooking the manmade lake, while Huey dragged his behind (and his oxygen tank) a few steps behind her, gasping all the way and wishing he'd done more cardio in the weeks (years?) leading up to the VacAsian. Today is Saturday, and The Summer Palace is a significant cultural site, so the place was packed.

Our morning sightseeing was followed by a mediocre lunch at a random local restaurant, where we walked through an actual Chinese wedding reception to get to the area where our group lunch was being served. After lunch, Robin and her classmates were shuttled to Peking University for additional sessions and panel discussions, and Huey and the other partners were returned to the hotel.

With Robin in the throes of academic bliss until at least [GASP] 9 PM, Huey decided to make his way to the "food market" (see VacAsian Day Six) to gulp down some tasty critters on a stick in lieu of dinner. Before you get too excited about how starfish, millipedes, scorpions, and grub worms might taste, we regret to inform you that Huey's "experimentation" was limited to "unusual" items you could find in almost any sushi restaurant, namely, barbequed prawns, squid, octopus, and snake. (We said "almost any sushi restaurant.") But, with strong doses of Pepto-Bysmol both before and after the ordeal, we can report that there were no gastro-intestinal irregularities and Huey's bouts of blindness, dementia, and paralysis were acute and temporary.