Beijing - Day 2 - Hutong Tour, Silk Factory, Forbidden City

Last night we slept great...waking up around 6 am this morning. Not too shabby considering that we are trying to adjust our bodies to a 15-hr time difference! We showered and headed down to the hotel's breakfast buffet. We were seated next to the only other caucasion couple in the restaurant, so I asked if they were here with CCAI - and yep, they sure were - and they were from Mukilteo of all places (a suburb north of Seattle). So we had a nice chat with them while we sorted thru an interesting array of breakfast options...Steve went for the fried eggs (bad), pancakes (great) and coffee (really bad)...I went the opposite direction and had a couple slices of ham (ok) with fried rice (delicious), hashbrown wedges (not very warm, but decent), and a milk-steamed bun.

At 9 am, all the CCAI families met in the lobby for our first day of touring and loaded onto a tour bus with our guide, "George". We have 8 families in our group from all over the U.S. - Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois and Washington are the states I can remember. One couple will be receiving one year old TWIN girls on Sunday!  We were all excited to talk about our children-to-be and there are several couples who will be first-time parents on this trip. There is also one couple traveling with their now 4.5 yr old daughter from China who is adorable and is enjoying being doted on by all the families.

Our first tour of the day was the Hutong Tour. Hutong's are what the oldest neighborbhoods in Beijing are called. The streets are very narrow, and can only be accessed by rickshaw, scooter, bicycle, or a very small cars. Each family/couple got put into a rickshaw and off we went!

They are actually quite like a pedicab - a very cool way to see an area up close and personal. The rickshaws (and vehicles in general here) stop for no one - so it is a wild ride! While in the Hutong, we also had the chance to visit a personal family's home and courtyard.

After the Hutong Tour, we headed over to the Silk Factory, where we learned about silk worms and how the silk thread gets pulled and stretched into quilts and clothing.

Of course then they gave everyone the "hard sell" to buy some silk items, which were very beautiful, but Steve and I declined any purchases.

Then we loaded into the bus and went to lunch. We ate at a restaurant representing the Dai minority of China. The food was...interesting. I tried a little bit of everything, but found the rice most appealing. During the lunch, there were dancers representing various Chinese minority groups who came out and put on a little show for us. Also during the lunch, some girls came by our table and tied pieces of red yard around our wrists. We asked what they were for, but none of the girls spoke English well enough to explain. When we left the restaurant, we noticed hundreds of the red yarns tied to the tree branches outside the restaurant, so we tied ours on there too.

After lunch George loaded us onto the bus toward the Forbidden City. First we walked thru Tiananmen Square. There were huge crowds of people - 98% of them were Chinese, so of course our group raised a lot of eyebrows (and cameras!)...every few feet we were stopped by people wanting to take photos with us. George was great about keeping us moving so we didn't get too overwhelmed with street vendors and curious natives.

At one point a little girl saw me taking a photo with Steve's iPhone and ran up to get a picture...not of me...just of Steve's iPhone!!!  George said they have iphones in China, but she probably liked the special rubber case he has his in.

We spent 2.5 hrs. walking around the grounds of the Imperial Palace. It was hot and smoggy.

(Steve with George, our guide)

We were all pretty wiped out by the end of the tour. So we all were thrilled to return to the air-conditioned bus - and get back to the hotel for showers and dinner. Steve and I decided we've had enough chicken and rice for awhile, so we walked two blocks to Pizza Hut (which is more trendy and upscale here - like CPK in the U.S.) I'm telling you, plain cheese pizza never tasted so good!

On our way back, we stopped in the grocery store again, and were pleased to hear the Chinese man singing "Let it Be" this time...which of course led straight into another round of...(wait for it)....WINSTON CALL BOY! (Rhinestone Cowboy).  :)

Tomorrow morning we have a 6 am wake-up call. We have to visit the breakfast buffet and be ready to leave the hotel lobby by 8 am. George will be taking us to the Great Wall, the 2008 Olympic Park, and an acrobatic show tomorrow...looking forward to it - but first we need some sleep...  Goodnight from Beijing!