My Nexus Holiday - 2

Day 2This consisted of a few obligatory Beijing sights - Tiananmen, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and an acrobatic performance in the evening.
The tour guide talked a bit about the background of the tour and why it was so cheap. He said a lot of things and the horn-friendly motorists of Beijing didn't help with clarity. I think he was trying to say that there wasn't any government subsidy and that it was all sponsored by businesses. He didn't say whether they were government-owned businesses though. The fact that he said part of the tour was to show the Chinese diaspora that China had become great and developed sounded suspicious. No business would want to do that… Surely that's the role of government.
There's daily 'fines' of USD99 for non attendance as his paymasters require a headcount through the stores. Also if you 'borrow' an entry ticket to one of the sights for whatever reason, he requires you to return it.
Protip: choose the right side of the bus – the legroom can be better due to the different pitch to accommodate the rear door.

Day 3
The day started off with sightseeing at the Summer Palace. Which essentially means take photos.

There was an unannounced but compulsory CNY10 fee for the boat ride across. Compulsory because of time constraints and the logistics of keeping the group together.
Silk quilts were interesting…

We stayed there for quite some time. Sales were slow and people were quick to return to the coach. It looked like the tour guide was copping some behind-his-back criticism about the stinginess of his group.
After lunch there was 'fashion shopping district' for a whole two hours, twenty minutes. Hiding out at McDonalds meant there was a seat and table to use. The highlight of the day was seeing a coach attempt a U-turn on an undivided main road, here:
They turned that bus around after 75 seconds of hearing horns and three-point turn (maybe more points).

Last for the day was Wangfujing. I swear those metal plates on the road were there last time I went, six years ago. Makes a huge racket when the buses drive over them.
Tip: Bring something to keep you occupied. About three hours' worth of stuff should do it for this day.