Last night we had dinner with the parents of one of Ronnie's co- workers. They have lived here for years so they took us to a great authentic Chinese restaurant near our hotel and did all of the ordering. The food was amazing! I got more practice on my chopstick skills and Joseph got in a much needed nap :)
Our first full night in Beijing went fairly well considering the time change. We managed to almost all sleep through the night. Joseph woke up and played quietly from about 1-3AM before falling back to sleep until our 8am wake up call. This morning we had breakfast, met up with our group and headed out to the forbidden city. Of course as we we're driving there I realized I had forgotten the camera! Thankfully we had the video camera on us so I did get pictures with that. But the cord to transfer the pictures is still at home, so you get pictures of pictures today :)
If you have seen the new version of the karate kid you will recognize these golden knobs on the doors in the forbidden city. Joseph was so excited he could touch the same knobs as "Dre" the boy character in that movie!
Happy to report I survived my first squatty potty experience :) Love that the public toilets have a rating system. And just so you know, a 4 star toilet does NOT provide toilet paper...so, so glad I knew about this and had packed my own before we left!
This is the flag our guide uses to keep our group together. Joseph loves it and has convinced Jolene a few times to let him "lead"...of course after he smacked an unsuspecting tourist with it she took it back and the fun was over :)
Walking into the Imperial garden. This was just beautiful.
After the forbidden city they drove us to hutong village where we got to ride in a rickshaw. Our poor driver had his work cut out for him with the three of us! The gears on his bike were clanking away and Ronnie and I thought for sure we broke it by the time we reached our destination.
It was such a gift to be able to see a typical neighborhood in China. The streets are very narrow, they seem more like back alleyways. Laundry was hung out in front on lines. We saw one woman washing clothes on a washing board on the front step of a home. There were random markets with fresh fruit/vegetables all lined up. Lots of people all around everywhere. 
This wasn't even half the food they provided for us. It was all so good too! Joseph ate almost 6 huge meatballs while we were there and got to drink real Pepsi....he may never want to come back to the US :) And see the chopsticks...Joseph and I WILL be able to use them by the time we get back home!
One strange thing we saw were wood boards placed over the tires of cars. We were told the car owners do that so dogs don't pee on them! And sure enough, every car we saw that didn't have the boards up on the tires had dog pee on them!
After our rickshaw ride we walked a bit of a ways to a home. The owner's welcomed us and led us back to the living area where they served up an amazing homemade meal! They had a fish tank inside Joseph just loved seeing. The fish were huge!
When we were fully stuffed the homeowner put on a little show with crickets and these huge grasshoppers. Joseph was brave enough to hold a grasshopper!
The house had an outside entryway that led back through an open air hall to a central courtyard. In the courtyard were fish, parakeets, crickets, doves, roosters...
Here, the homeowner is letting Joseph pet the rooster!
We rode the rickshaw back to the bus and tipped our driver heavily for all of his hard work getting us there and back. And because we most likely broke his bike while doing it :) We hopped on the bus and are now back in the room resting up before dinner. Tomorrow is our last day in Beijing. We get to go to the Great Wall and an acrobatics show we hope Joseph will love!
Anna, this last picture is for you. Look what Mama and Daddy saw on the street while we were in the rickshaw...
A Hello Kitty store! I bet you would have loved seeing it!
This is AWESOME!!! Love you all!
ReplyDelete