Adventures in Beijing (Delay from 10-9-10)

My VPN has not worked and apparently my email that includes pics is too large to send.  I'm going to try to send this in two posts...words only...following by pictures.  You'll have to play the game of what pictures match to what text.  Good luck! 

Up bright and early again.  Yesterday was such an adventure.  We started off by doing the Hutong tour on a rickshaw.  Hutong is a small area around the Forbidden City where many older people live.  It is famous for the small narrow streets. This area was very exciting because we were able to see more of "real" China then what we saw from the car on the way home from the airport.  We were also able to visit the home of one family.  The dad was very proud to tell us that his older son lives in Texas and is a Kung Fu Master, trained by Jet Li and teaching others now.  He gave us his sons business card so we'll have to email him!  His wife served us Jasmine tea and we sat and listened to his stories (translated by George of course).  We also saw tons of people walking dogs...as pets!  What a sigh of relief!

 

 

 

After the tour we headed to the silk factory.  We saw the whole process for making silk including the silk worms making their cocoons, pulling thread from the cocoon, stretching the thread to form a blanket and so on.  We even got to participate a little bit.  At the silk market we picked out a cute outfit for Sophie and got her name stamp made. 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the market we went to lunch.  George asked what we wanted, assuming we'd want Pizza Hut or something familiar.  We told him we liked spicy foods and that Jason was a little more brave to try to new things.  We explained that he is allergic to shellfish and that I prefer pork, beef and chicken.  George took the liberty to order for us and chose an authentic Chinese restaurant.  He referred to this restaurant as a minority restaurant.  There was a stage with performers and dancers for us to watch as we ate.  We were sitting up in the balcony on the restaurant which was pretty neat.  We also had the dancers bring us necklaces and tie red yarn to our wrists. It is lucky for a woman to have it tied to her right wrist, and a man to his left.  We tried all of the dishes that arrived and they were delicious.  I operated under the don't ask, don't tell policy.  It was explained to us that we were having Kung Pao chicken, fish, beef, vegetables, rice, and mushroom soup.  I'm not sure what kind of beef, but I'm probably glad I didn't know.  We were also served tea. 

 

 

Next up was Tianammen Square and Forbidden City.  What an amazing sight.  There were still beautiful flowers planted from the National Day last week.  We walked, and walked, and walked and every time we thought we were coming to the end there was an opening to another building.  We learned where the Emperor stayed, where he let his concubines stay, and where they held morning meetings.  While we were walking I had two young girls ask to have their picture taken with me.  I have to be honest, I totally felt like a celebrity!  George also took us to the Emperor's garden where he would "play games" with his concubines and spend his free time. We took a picture in front of a lucky tree that was actually two trees joined as one.  The funniest thing was that the vendors were selling children's hats that were supposedly "concubine hats."  Who would want their little girl dresses as a concubine?  Hmmm

 

Okay, my computer is not loving me right now so I'll try to post more pics later.  Today we are going to the Great Wall and the Olympic Stadium.  George volunteered during the 2008 Olympics so I think he wants to show off the Bird's Nest.  He's funny!