Day 2 in China

The weather was perfect yesterday but today it was cold and it rained a lot. We started the day at the Pearl Factory. Did you know that there are dozens of pearls in fresh water oysters? I didn't.

Next we drove past the Beijing 2008 Olympic park. They have a building they call the bird nest. It is amazing. I wouldn't have thought such a structure could be built.













We went to Tian An Men Square just for a short look around. We were running behind because traffic was horrible. Speaking of traffic--driving there is nothing like the US. If they came to the US and drove that way there would be many many lawsuits. People are very pushy and nose in every crack whether they are walking, riding a bike, or driving. However, eventually someone yields but not until they are centimeters from the other person. In the US most people would say I had the right of way, hit him, and sue. I would have be terrified to drive there. The Square was somewhat strange. Our guide just said we don't talk about what happened because we don't know for sure.















We got to go into a traditional Hutong Village and have lunch with a family. It was so neat to see a little of what their life is like. Each house doesn't have a bathroom. They have a shared public bathroom. In China as many know they just have holes in the ground basically. Well at the villages they don't have stalls. There was no way I was squatting with everyone watching me. I went in, saw no stalls and turned around and walked out. Most of the places we went had "western style" toilets-- thank goodness! We visited with the family for a while. The typical day for them is to get up each morning go to the market and get food for the day. They don't buy in bulk or do big shopping trips. Then they start cooking it so it will be ready for lunch and dinner. Then they take care of their families children. Below is also a picture of a guy picking up trash. They had people all over with over sized chopsticks picking up trash. Many streets were immaculate but those that weren't were covered in trash.













After lunch we rode a rickshaw back to the bus. It was pouring rain and our driver was a super happy guy. He was a good driver to. He avoided crashing into a biker that cut us off.
















Next we saw the Summer Palace. This garden one of the emperors built for his women to go to a beautiful area with a lake. Those guys spoiled their ladies.

We also saw the Forbidden City today. You could spend a couple days here. It literally is a city. It has streets(walkways), trees, parks; it really feels like you aren't in Beijing anymore. The emperor had 9,999 rooms. He would stay in a different room each night so the enemy wouldn't know where he would be. 9 is said to be the imperial number. Many things in China are done in 9's.

















This is the bathroom at the Forbidden City. It was funny that they rated the bathrooms but not so funny that they gave this 4 stars--maybe out of 10!



















Tonight they "treated" us to a Peking Duck Dinner. Peking is what they use to call Beijing. The duck wasn't good at all-- if you ask me. I'm probably not the best person to ask though. I can be picky when it comes to food.