Team Marien: 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...