DAY 10 - Xian to Beijing
Once again we were up early, checking out of our hotel and travelling to the airport. As usual, it was a long bus ride to the airport through moderately busy traffic. The traffic was dense, but when I compare to Beijing, it was moderate! We were given box lunches to take on the plane and we were also fed on the plane. No flight in China goes anywhere without feeding its passengers .....
Eric got to hold our group number while Jimmy went to get our boarding passes
Thankfully one of us had a window seat and we were able to get some great photos as we approached Beijing.
This is the outskirts of Beijing
We were driven to "Old Beijing" and let off the bus. After a short walk through narrow alleys, which served as roads, we met up with our rickshaw driver, who took us on an impressive ride through the maze of alleys. The rickshaw drivers use bicycles as it is now against the law for them to pull the rickshaws. They were very happy to get their American $'s as a tip.
All set for our ride
Bob and Francine also
Yogurt anyone? Chinese yogurt was delicious!!
Small alleys (roads)
Every tour company has a family in the Old City who allow visitors to come to their home. We were fortunate to have a lovely family which had handed down the home through many generations. We entered through a narrow courtyard and the house was long and narrow. This one had a shower enclosure in one corner, but as with all the homes, public toilets were the norm. This home had a value of over $1,000,000, but the owner certainly could not afford to sell it as a replacement would cost much more. The owner's granddaughter turned out to be rather famous. She painted the inside of bottles and had an amazing talent. We watched her work land we did buy one lovely bottle which we gave our daughter Sandra for her birthday .... hated to part with it!
Entering the home in Old Beijing
The kitchen ... long and very narrow. No refrigerator
Our group seated in the long living room while Jimmy explained to us life in Old Beijing
Courtyard in the home
Garlic
Painted bottles
When we left the home, we walked through the narrow streets to a temple, where we took part in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony.
One of the locals
The temple
Chinese tea
Tea being served
We were all very tired after a long day. We checked into our hotel, got a bit of a rest and then drove to dinner at a local restaurant. This restaurant was on the third floor of a Japanese hotel and it was very elegant. There was a shop with two of the most beautiful pieces of amethyst that were taller than either of us.
Of course, the amethyst was for sale
Dinner was served in the usual Chinese style
Very elegant Japanese hotel
We had gone up two flights of escalators and came across what we thought was a day care. It was about 7 pm and lots of little kiddies about 4-5 years old were still there. We found out that it was a school for teaching small children english. The parents would take their children there after dinner for a few hours of intensive teaching.
We were very tired ..... we knew we had two busy days ahead of us ......
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