Beijing Day 2

Today was freezing cold.  We thought it was supposed to be a high of 58 today, but it was not nearly that warm!

Our first stop was at the jade factory.  We learned all about the different kinds of jade and even saw some things being made from it.

The jade is very beautiful and I really enjoyed looking at all the lovely things.  I even bought me and Jenna something.  If you can see the round balls in this picture they are called the Happy Family Balls.  They start from a square piece of jade and then are carved one inside the other so in the end there are 3-4 balls in each other to represent the family generations.

I would have loved to have had a jade bracelet or other piece of jewelry, but despite jade being quite inexpensive here, it was still more than I wanted to spend seeing that I have so much time left to go on this trip.

After the jade factory was the Great Wall.  I was very disappointed that it was so cold and foggy because it made climbing nearly impossible.  Not to mention the sheer number of people on the wall made me very nervous.

But we did climb quite a ways and now we can say we did it.  But in the end, I was frozen and just wanted to get down without tumbling down.  :)

From there, we went to lunch at another Chinese restaurant.  I didn't get a picture of this one, but it was much like the other.  The food here was better we thought.  And we talked our guide, Gloria into eating with us.

After lunch, we went to tour the Hutongs on a rickshaw.  Hutongs are little narrow alley-type neighborhoods in Beijing.   It is a very historical part of Beijing and so many of them were torn down before the country realized what an important part of history they were.  We got to enter into the home of a woman who lives in one.  I wanted to take pictures, but didn't want to invade her privacy too much.

The rickshaw ride was quite interesting.  It was cold and it was crazy with the cards, other rickshaws, pedestrians and other vehicles trying to share these narrow alley/roads.



We stopped to tour a museum/historical home of the wife of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen who was very much a revolutionary in China. 

Once we were done with the rickshaw tour, it was back to the hotel.  I talked Deanne and Jenna into venturing out on our on for dinner.  Plus, we really wanted to see the night market.

This is where you can find Chinese delicacies such as starfish, snake, scorpions and sea horses.  I didn't have the nerve to take pictures but Deanne got some video.  I'll upload it for you later.  :)

Then it was on to scout out dinner.  This is where we ended up...

PIZZA HUT!  And it was delish!  A little piece of home!

And now we are off to bed as we have to be up early in the morning.  We have a 10:45am flight to Nanjing tomorrow.  Then the countdown is really on to get Kylie!  Up until now, it's seemed almost like a little vacation.  Now, it's feeling for real!

I'll leave you with one last special picture for my good friend, Elizabeth Yancey...

Fancy Yancey in China!

OK folks, the Tylenol PM is kicking in.  My next post will be from Kylie's province Jiangsu!