Touring-Day 2 in Beijing

As I type this, it is 8:20 pm and Elise is fast asleep after a busy day of sightseeing in Beijing. Let me be clear that she saw NOTHING at the Forbidden City since she slept for about 2 1/2 hours while Steve pushed her around in the stroller.

Speaking of the stroller, it seemed to be a fascinating apparatus around here. Several people stopped and actually stuck their heads down inside. Why, we don't know. Maybe they wanted to make sure there was in fact a child in there. Who knows...but it was rather weird. We were on only family in the Forbidden City with a stroller too. Another weird fact since there were TONS AND TONS of groups there. I've never seen so many tour buses before in my life. This is an extremely busy tourists time in Beijing.

The morning began with a very nice breakfast buffet at the hotel. We were able to meet and great the other families that are touring with us, the Reichs and the Dickersons. It's so fun to finally put a face with a name.

An outdoor vendor selling "breakfast". Any takers?????

After breakfast, we retired to the lobby to wait for our guide, Joe. While sitting there in front of the HUGE plate glass windows that looks out over the walkway and street, some street vendors came up to the window to entice us with their wares. This is the moment that Candy sprang into action. She stood up and started waving frantically at the vendors as if to urge them on with their campaign. Her gesture sent the trio of vendors into a frenzy showing off the items they were attempting to sell. After I got my laughter under control, I told her to quit encouraging them. I felt like an animal in the zoo.


We headed to Tiananmen Square and walked around, took pictures, saw the sights and enjoyed a nice walk around the complete square . Again, it was very crowded since there were so many tour groups there.

Outside the National Museum with the "Beijing 2008" clock ticking. Only 392 days until the Summer Olympics.

Tiananmen Square....we took this same shot the last time we were here.

After Tiananmen Square, we walked under the street and entered the Forbidden City. When we were here two years ago, they were renovating it. It is still under renovation, but two of the main buildings that are the center pieces of the City were being renovated, so you could not see what is inside them. The interesting part about this trip though was that were were able to see the "side" rooms or living quarters and we did not see that the last time. We saw the Emperor's sleeping quarters and the sleeping quarters of his concubines. It was very beautiful, but difficult to take photos since no one is permitted to actually enter the rooms, you have to look through outside windows. This makes it nearly impossible to take photos.

Preparing for our Hutong Rickshaw tour

Candy, Elise and Steve enjoying lunch at a local family's hutong.

When we left the Forbidden City, we toured the Hutong on Rickshaw bicycles. It was great fun and very, very interesting to hear about the Hutong. This area is well over 600 years old and rich in history. This is where the families lived back when Beijing was surrounded and protected by a wall. It is a historic and protected area now where families still live and work.

A family's garden in the Hutong

We rode around for about an hour and had our lunch at a local families home. From what I could tell, their home consisted of a very small cooking area or kitchen, living room and bedroom. The living room was cleared out so two tables could be set up to serve our group dinner. The food was good and the company was better. It really was an enriching experience to see how the ancient Chinese lived and how some still live.

This is a cricket. I know, it doesn't look like it and you are probably thinking that I'm joking. But I'm not. After our lunch, the man of the house showed us his "Fighting Cricket". It seems that Cricket Fighting is a big passtime in China. He showed us the cricket cages, the carrying case to go to the fight, the net to catch the cricket, a winter cricket home and a summer cricket home. He even showed us scales to weight the crickets before a fight to make sure that they are equal in weight.

Of course Steve and I thought that it was all a big joke and just went along with it. Naturally, when we returned to our room, I did an internet search to check it out. Much to my shock, cricket fighting is in fact a big deal in China and everything that the gentleman showed us was authentic and real. Yep, I felt pretty stupid!


After lunch we headed to the silk factory. Another first for us. We experienced exactly how the silk worms make their cocoons and how the cocoons are harvested into silk. It really was fascinating. The of course there was shopping. The clothing was beautiful and I'm proud to say that I controlled myself. I can't say the same for Lisa....she walked away with a beautiful silk robe and several more items.

Silk worm larvae that has been removed from the cocoon.

Stretching silk to make a comforter.

We declined attending the acrobat show since we had all been up since about 2 a.m. The jet lag can be such a killer. We came back to the hotel at around 4 p.m. and just chilled. As I finished this post, Steve is sawing logs (literally) and Candy and Lisa are sound asleep. I won't be far behind.

I love this country and all the richness that it has to share with anyone who opens their heart and mind to it. Tomorrow is another day of experiences and I'm looking forward to every moment.