Hello all my China followers,

I am safely home and just now adjusting to the time change. I was home for two days and then right back into the swing of Team Marien with Ao1 Summer Camp. I will have the next post up by tomorrow evening. I hope you are enjoying my travels. It was amazing and I definitely left a piece of my heart in China. xoxoxoxo

China Day 5 Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, Hutong Neighborhood, Bell Tower, & Tea House Part 2

After Tiananmen Square we headed to the Hutong Neighborhood. The Hutong has been around for longer than I can remember. It was the area that the government officials would live in back in the day. Now it is still the center of the city and very expensive to live in but you have to preserve the architecture as historical. It is very difficult to fit cars in the area so we took a rickshaw ride! I got the best driver!! If you are even thinking about running the Amazing Race memorize his picture and if you end up in China in the Hutong neighborhood look for him among the other 20 million Beijing people :) He was SO fast. We were second to last and by the time we arrived at our destination we were second! WOO HOO! He was so fast it was a crazy ride...

The Rickshaws line the alley ways....tons of them everywhere!

The group getting ready to go

We were off

The Hutong Neighborhood Streets

The kids were on a lunch break from school

The same as in the States...the boys play the girls chat...life is universal

We arrived at our destination. We had been invited by a local musician to come to his home for lunch. He cooked for us and told us about his family and played his ancient Chinese instrument. What an honor to be invited into his home. He had cleared the living area for us put up three tables. This is the China I wanted to see!!! The food was delicious and it was a great experience all around.

Our new friends home...Sadly I couldn't write his name let alone pronounce it.

He cooked everything and it was delicious as you can see

Our new friend who we gave many gifts to show appreciation for his hospitality.

Giving us a small taste of the ancient instrument

he plays in the Symphony

He let the girls try it out...

Sky did great! It was a type of violin


After lunch we got in our rickshaw again and were off to visit a home that is surrounded by a courtyard. You go into the gates and they have different living spaces on each side and of course there is a reason of why the set up certain rooms a certain way. Feng Shui at its best. There have been so many symbols I can't remember them all but here is the home beautiful!

We were off again on the rickshaws...

Amazing Race fans this is the face to remember

More of the streets we rode through in Hutong

That's a lot of beer for all you beer lovers...you would love China

The entry to the courtyard

The owner of the home

From there we went back on the rickshaws...my driver cracked me up. He liked to be number two and he would grab on to the first guy and let him pull us until he noticed. Then the first guy would yell at him for at least a minute and my guy would just laugh and laugh...FUNNY!

Off on the rickshaws again...Pic is blurry because we

going so fast! Riding with CharlotteWhere the rickshaws dropped us off....beautiful

We then were off to the Bell Tower. The steps went straight up...the gym can't prepare you for these suckers. The view was beautiful and yet sad....such poor conditions.
The bell tower stairs. I am looking straight up The view of the Hutong neighborhood area From the top
Inside the Tower....lots of ancient drums and bells they still use even today.

Then we were off to a beautiful tea house and we had a formal ceremonial tea! LOVED IT!! I love Chinese tea...it is so good and very different from what we are use to.

The tea ceremony They showed us the traditional way to enjoy specific types of teasThey also told us what each tea does for your healthThis flower tea was very cool...

it started as a seed and bloomed in the waterThe final part they taught us was to make sure your water

was hot enough you needed a pee pee boy...

the pic explains it all!

China Day 5: Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, Hutong Neighborhood, Bell Tower, & Tea House Part 1

Whew! Today was a crazy day!! Today we joined the entire tour group...7 families total. All with girls who were adopted from China. We had to be up and ready to leave earlier than I would like to say and those of you that know me know I am NOT a morning person but I was ready for a great day. Charlotte is a scheduled girl and we were off to follow the flower. She had a flower and we were to find the flower when we were out in VERY busy place.

The Temple of Heaven was beautiful. You can pay to just get into the park or to actually go into the temple areas. The parks are filled with the local people and that is what I loved! I love the people, watching the people, talking to people (which is just Ni Hao) and them pointing and looking at the unusual sites of American's with Chinese children.

The group and Charlotte and the flower

This sweet older gentleman was practicing calligraphy outside

the temple gates! Charlotte says they will come and practice

all day. Michael told me what he wrote, "The Great people of China

are the giant dragon of the Orient!"

Morning dance class in the park

Everything in China is symbolic and there is a reason for how

they create their architecture. This is best explained as the outer courts.

Everything is done in 9's which is the emperor's number. 9 is the highest

ranking number and shows reverence to the emperor who would come here

to pray and meditate. They also believe that square and rectangle stands for

earth and the ground that a circle leads to heaven. That is why the stairs

are leading up to the circle.

The center of the circle at the highest point.

All the beautiful adopted girls from China

The Inner Court where the emperor would come to worship

The emperors inner area of worship...again in circles

The section outside the first part of the Temple...

Dance class anyone can join in

The next section was for Good Harvest established in the early Ming Dynasty

A moment of reflection...again everything is in 9's

The last section of the park was covered in people. People selling

on the streets to us tourist (we definietly stick out), dance classes,

older ladies singing, games. I learned how to say I don't want it very

quickly because they don't tak no thank you or no for an answer but if

you say "buyao" they leave you alone (buyao - sounds like boo-yow).

I loved these men hanging out on the ledge...smile :)

Just another day in the park with heels and dancing

After the Temple of Heaven we loaded on the bus and went to Tiananmen Square. If you do not know about the massacre that the Chinese government inflicted on the young protesters it is to long to write so google it and you will see the sad history. On a brighter note it is the largest city square in any city. It was a lot similar to Washington DC area with their congress, etc. There is a huge section that is a museum that holds the glass coffin of Mao. People come from ALL over China to visit Mao and pay their respects. There are mixed feelings about Mao. He helped us during WW II and had many horrible wars with Japan. I know that some do not think he was horrible and those who believe that he was a terrible horrible leader and man they no one will never speak out about it because punishment would await. If you do not know about Mao and his reign read up on that one also! I think my favorite part was seeing the soldiers! Being a military wife I am very interested in seeing their armed forces.

A group of grils on a fieldtrip

Our group of kids playing with China's version of the

hackie sack....Charlotte was giving them pointers

Part of the Square that overlooks the Forbidden City

and a picture of Mao

China's version of the changing of the gaurds

I have to sign off for today and will finish up with the neighborhoods of the Hutong and the rest of the day. Don't want to over run Erin with too many pictures to post. THANKS SISTER! xoxoxoxo