Beijing - Day Three

We started out our third day in Beijing by visiting the Lama Temple, a large Buddhist temple in the hutong district. It was interesting to watch the people burn incense and make offerings to Buddha. 

So...many young children in China don't wear diapers.  So there's that.

For lunch we took a cooking class as learned to make garlic broccoli, pepper beef, and beef stir fry noodles. Everything was so delicious and we also got to take the recipes home. 

Here are a few more pictures of us in Tiananmen Square:

After lunch we toured the Forbidden City complex. I couldn't believe how large it was. We kept going through more and more courtyards! The architecture is beautiful though and it was amazing how much they were able to build. 

We went back to the hutong area and took a rickshaw ride around the narrow alleyways. We stopped off at a typical home there and got to see the courtyard and houses. The rain had held out so far but then the skies opened up and it started pouring. We got back into the rickshaw and had a soaking ride back to our car. It was fun and luckily not too long. 

We had dinner reservations not too far away so we decided to wait out the rain in Starbucks until dinner. Unfortunately our guide showed us the old location of the restaurant so when we showed up, it was closed. We walked around for a bit and found Peking Cafe, and had some pizza and pasta before taking the subway back to the hotel. 

Beijing - Day Two

One our second morning, our guide met us at the hotel and we headed off to the Temple of Heaven.  Most of the older people in China hang out at parks during the day, doing activities like dancing, calligraphy or playing cards. It was interesting to see this part of normal life. The temple was originally meant as the place where the Emperor would go twice a year to talk to God. The structures were beautiful and symbolic. 

My husband and I got so many looks today and two groups even stopped us and asked to take pictures with us. Apparently many of the Chinese tourists here have never seen westerners before. 

After the Temple of Heaven, we went to the Pearl Market. We got some souvenir gifts for our family at home and also looked at some jade jewelry I was eyeing. After debating dropping some money on a super nice piece, I ended up just getting a simple bracelet. 

We ate lunch at a local place called Da Wan Ju. Our guide ordered noodles, pineapple chicken, spicy beef and a peanut cabbage appetizer. Everything was really good, but even better was not having to worry about ordering!

After lunch we went to the Summer Palace. It is a huge complex with a large lake, temples and former living quarters of the emperor, empress, and concubines. We walked the length of the Long Corridor, which had beautiful paintings all along it. 

We ate dinner at our hotel's Italian restaurant tonight and had excellent pastas. We figured we would be having plenty of Chinese food over the next few days. 

Beijing Day One

We arrived in Beijing early on our first morning and luckily our hotel had our room ready so we were able to shower and change before hitting our day of sightseeing. After our first day, we had a guide with us, but we were on our own for that first day. The language barrier was brutal; very few people speak English so asking for directions was almost impossible. 

We took the subway to Tiananmen Square and marveled at all the people. 

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Tiananmen Square:

We toured the National Museum and really enjoyed the Ancient China exhibit.  

After finding some questionable food for lunch, we went through Prince Gong's Mansion, an example of a courtyard complex in the hutong area. 

Finally, we walked through the Silk Market and also got foot massages there. They were much needed. 

We  headed out to dinner to Dadong Roast Duck, which was supposedly one of the best places to eat Peking Duck. We had a great dinner there. We ended up ordering a half duck along with the condiments for it. The sauce was super good and I really liked the cucumber slices with it.