Day 2 - Beijing: Hutong, Silk, Tiananmen, Forbidden City

This is the view from our hotel room.  We were on the go today! 

We started the day realizing that our handy dandy voltage converter/adapter set did not come with a 2-prong to 3-prong adapter.  The hotel provided a power strip that served that purpose.  Went to exchange money and ended up behind a very belligerent French-speaking man who did not like the way the numbers were written on his receipt.  They demanded a perfect bank note so he was demanding a perfect receipt.  He demanded his money back when the money exchange clerk would not write it over and she was very happy to oblige rather than appease him.  She told him to go to the Bank of China.  The yelling was still going on when a nice trainee got us our RMB and we headed to the breakfast room.  The owner of our agency was right.  The breakfast buffet was nothing like the continental breakfast we've experienced in US hotels.  There were lots of choices and it was all yum!  Oddball things like french fries and things I've never heard of like Hawthorne juice.  We ate plenty and were ready to hit the city!



Our first stop was Hutong, the old town in Beijing.  We went for a rickshaw ride through the alleys and out to a road along the river.  Our guide gave us some history about how the status/wealth of the home owner could be determined by the number of steps and beams of the homes.  We were able to visit with a local resident who is an artist who is very good at Chinese calligraphy.  He painted Tamasyn's Chinese name for us.  I think this may be one of the most special gifts we bring back. 

After this, we went to the Yuan Hou silk factory.  There was a short tour before shopping where we learned about the life cycle of the silk worms and how the threads from the cocoons are made into the silk comforters, duvet covers, garments, etc.  We made a couple of purchases and headed to lunch.  I neglected to get the name of the restaurant we went to but it was a very nice lunch with kung pao chicken, a beef dish, egg drop soup, and baby bok choy with watermelon afterwards.  We could have used a couple more people to help us eat it all.

Our next stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  George gave us some info about the various buildings/monuments and then we spent the rest of the time in the Forbidden City.  We had no idea how big this was.  We wandered all the way through, with some interesting historical tidbits along the way.  I was glad to have helped big brother study for his history test on ancient China earlier this year, so some of that was fresh in my mind!  The gardens were my favorite part with natural stone sculptures and many trees for shade.  We started the day with layers but had peeled the outer layers off by now as it was quite warm.  We noticed the locals were still bundled up.  After this, we met back up with our driver and headed back to our hotel.

Our jet lag seems to be working in reverse.  We were both asleep by 8:30 p.m. the first night and woke up between 3 and 4 a.m.  After all the out and about yesterday, we laid down for "naps" around 4 p.m. and were up at 2 a.m.  We have not needed dinner either day after the airline kept us fed and the nice meals today.  There is a mini mart across from the hotel which we have not wandered into yet either.  Our guide told us we could pick up some bottled water there but our driver keeps giving us bottles as we tour around town, so we have not needed that yet.