Antique Market and Hutong

Our last day in China was our free day. We didn't have much of a plan, but we started out at an Antique Market (or Flea Market) fairly well known in the area. There were over 3,000 vendors, but very few tourists.

Alison was able to get the lamps she wanted.

There was a lot of bargaining back and forth between the Alison and the vendor, but no hard feelings:).

There was stuff everywhere! And because it was all Chinese stuff, we found it all pretty fun. I'm sure if we had been at a gigantic flea market in the States, it wouldn't have seemed near as interesting.

I got a little bit of a flute-playing lesson from one of the vendors. Of course, then I had to buy a flute. But it's China; everything is cheap in China:).

There was so much to see, we spent all morning in the market.

Outside of the market, there were rows of bikes and bicycle trailers. This was apparently how many of the vendors got their goods to market. Bikes are still a very common method of transportation in Beijing.

For lunch we went to a restaurant in one of the nearby Hutongs. A hutong is a fairly traditional-style neighborhood with courtyard style houses connected by very narrow streets and alleys. They are disappearing from Beijing at a fairly high rate, as the government clears them out in favor of buildings and parks that would improve Beijing's "image".

Our first day in Beijing, we went on a rickshaw tour of one of the local Hutongs.

For our final day in Beijing, we went to a restaurant in a different Hutong, near the Forbidden City.

It was pretty tucked away, but we found it after a few minutes of walking.

We got there a little after lunchtime and had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It was charming.

The food was Szechwan style, and it was delicious! We must have had about 15 different dishes by the time the meal was over.

Unfortunately, it was a lot more expensive than our outdated Beijing book had suggested. So we didn't exactly have enough yuan for cab fare home. Between the three of us, we had 14 yuan. It had taken us 15 yuan to get from our hotel to the restaurant.

We figured we could walk 1 yuan worth, then catch a cab.

First we had to explore the Hutong. Some of my favorite Beijing pictures are from the afternoon we spent here.

Then we started walking.

But it was such a beautiful walk, we ended up walking the rest of the afternoon.

We walked by the Forbidden City.

We followed the moat that surrounded the ancient city.

The sun was setting as we reached Tian an Men Square. And we ended our trip right back where we had started, four days earlier.

Beijing Zoo and Temple of Heaven

The third day we were in China, we visited the Temple of Heaven and the Beijing zoo.

The Temple of Heaven is located in a large park. It was neat to walk around and see all the local Beijing residents playing games, exercising, practicing calligraphy and socializing there in the park.

The Temple area was FREEZING! So I didn't take a ton of pictures. I think my fingers were a little numb.

We made a quick stop at the Beijing tower for a scenic view of the city before moving on to the Beijing zoo.

I'm not sure what it is about pandas that draws such a crowd, but our group's trip to the zoo was placed on the itinerary specifically so we could visit the pandas. On the way there, our tour guide warned us that the pandas in Beijing might look a little dirtier than pandas in the States. Apparently, zoos in the States bathe the pandas way more frequently. Oh, America and your high standards of cleanliness...

Do you see the panda behind me??? I actually think it may have tucked its head into the corner specifically to avoid being in the photo. But trust me, the black and grey lump near my shoulder is a genuine Chinese panda.

This panda was so much more photogenic.

We made a couple more stops to finish off the day. We went to this huge shop that sold nothing but knock off name brand goods... We were given an hour and a half to look around. It was crazy. The vendors' booths were small and packed closely together, and everywhere you walked, vendors pulled at your sleeves and coats trying to get you to stop in their booth. It was stressful...

...so we left the shop and spent the time at Starbucks instead. It was amazing. And I don't even regret the missed opportunity to buy North Fake jackets and Folex watches.

Then we had dinner. Peking duck, delicious.

We finished the evening with a show - The Legend of Kung Fu. Based on the title, I expected a Kung Fu demonstration. It was actually a story, told through ballet. It was beautiful. Unexpected, but beautiful.

We got to have our pictures taken with one of the stars of the show:)

Ming tombs and the Great Wall

The second day we were in Beijing we went to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall.

The Ming Tombs are a collection of the tombs of 13 of the Ming Emperors. Construction on the Ming Tombs started soon after the Forbidden City was completed, and lasted for 200 years (thanks, Wikipedia).

The central feature of the Ming Tombs is a long walkway, which was supposed to symbolize the path from Earth to Heaven. Our group started in Heaven, and walked towards earth.

One of the statues along the way.

A unique feature of the Ming tombs is that 12 out of 13 tombs are intact. Only one was excavated, back in the 1950's, but so much was destroyed during/after that excavation that none of the other tombs have been touched since.

Lunch wasn't anything fancy since we were way on the outskirts of Beijing. But it was delicious. It tasted just like Chinese food from the mall. Also contributing to the "mall-ness" of this meal was the pile of French Fries- like an American food court on a tray.

Our next stop was the Great Wall! I could barely contain my excitement:) You can see the Wall in the background of this picture, along the horizon.

This section of the wall is in pretty good shape, but you can see how hundreds of years of traffic have worn down the steps.

Looking down at one of the watch towers.

People have scratched their names all along the wall... but it's neat to see the different characters. Chinese, Japanese, Arabic... I'm sure you could find something in just about every language.

View from one of the watch towers.

Brooke and Alison, climbing the wall.

The three of us, at the top of the section we climbed.

Sunset

After all those stairs, we were ready for a good meal. We were not disappointed. This was "hot pot" (almost like Melting Pot, if you've ever been). We each had our own pot of boiling water, a huge assortment of noodles, meat and vegetables (later they brought out 3 more plates of beef and lamb), and all the ingredients to mix up our own sauce.

Our meal also included a free beer or soft drink. Don't be mislead - I know it looks like I'm drinking an abnormally bubbly, kid-sized apple juice, but this was actually my beer.