Another full day- Day 2 of touring Beijing

Tian is determined to use chopsticks and if all else fails ,she stabs the food with them.
This is the entrance to the temple
An incense altarThe incense altar for the Emperor This is a wheel that common people would spin in lieu of reading the scripture...Tj thinks he could get his reading done everyday
We don't ahve any pictures of Buddha as it is considered disrespectful to take pictures inside the temple- we cheated and Trevor got this one from the courtyard


Today we had another unbelieveable day.

No fun at breakfast - the boys knew what to expect, Tian slept better - so it was a good start to the day! We started with a tour of the largest Llama ( sp?) Temple in Beijing. It was amazing. I think the boys were a little overwhelmed. There were monks there chanting, people there praying and burning incense and leaving offerings of fruit and money. I think they thought people only really worshipped golden statues in the Old Testament times... The shrines were beautiful - filled with golden statues and artwork. This one in Beijing was built to improve relations with Tibet and India about 400 years ago. It is very impressive - many buildings, a beautiful courtyard and at least a dozen various statues of a variety of Buddhas. I think the boys were most impressed by the last building - it had a plaque on the wall from the Guiness Book of World Records - the building houses the largest wooden statue from one piece of wood - it was incredibly tall - at least 100 feet and another 10 feet below ground - of course it was a statue of Buddha. Tian did okay - she thougt it was a little boring, but as usual made sure she attracted a crowd of curious people wondering how she fit in to our family.

Then, onto the silk carpet factory. I had no idea...we had a quick review of silk history. According to our guide every Chinese child is well versed in the importance of silk, the history of it and the silk road and has a basic understanding of its production since it is so importsnt to their economy. Some businesses are regulated by the government and that way quality is insured and prices are also regulated. Each of these rugs ranged in 100 - 2000 knots per square inch - all done by hand!!! They were gorgeous. A large rug - of high quality can take 2 people over a year to complete. However, the dye is all natural so they rugs will never fade and should last 30 years. I found a small wallhanging I really like for only $7000 - Tom was so mean he wouldn't buy it for me! It was a scene of China. Ty was most impressed by the fact that as you moved around the rug the colors changed -- it was really amazing.

The silk ready to be tied into a rug or wall hanging

A rug in progress - all done by hand the pattern on the back is exactly the same

A hand knotted wall hanging

Then we headed to a Tea House. Tian was very excited for her "tea party" I think she was a little surprised it did not include Vanilla wafers and water, however, there were tiny little cups. We tried several herbal teas and when they asked Tian what she thought she told them it was very nasty...so much for her future as a tea conniseur.

Then we headed for the moment we had all been waiting for - we headed for the rides in the rickshaws in "Old Beijing" or Hutong. This is where all the government officials used to live and perhaps some of the Emperor's childen as well. The homes were set up in a courtyard configuration - the south area was for the servants, west for daughters, east for sons and north for the head of the houseThe houses were built over 2000 years ago with very narrow streets, so we were driven through town not by hand pulled rickshaws, but by bicycle powered ones. They drove us through town - so Tian could shout "Ni hao" ( hello) to everyone. We then were brough to a local home for lunch. It was not as scary as one would think. However, their house was as small as an American bedroom. Our group consisted of us, a single young woman from Austrailia and a couple from Russia - we filled this small one room home. We had fish with the head and tail still intact, vegetable - my new favorite garlic stem (they are green, sliced into 1 inch legths - the look like green onion tops, but they are solid, crunchy aand have a mild flavor), peanuts , cauliflower in a spicy sauce, pork and soybeans, a choice of a local beer or Coke to drink, fresh tomatoes and oranges for dessert. Needless to say, we didn't try the beer, but we tried everything else - it was quite a feast and I don't think people really eat like that on a daily basis...After luch we toured a courtyard area owned by a family who had purchased it in the 1940's ( most of the families have passed down the property ) A local man told us about his family and - it was touristy, but fun. Ty got to feed a someone's bird mealworms and Tian and I wanted a little white blue eyed kitten that was hanging around. Then we were attacked by local peddlars trying to sell us everything form "Rolex" watches to postcards. It was fun, but hard to say no as you wondered what kind of quota they each had met....
lanterns hung for the lantern festival - the 15 day for Chinese New Year - the fireworks went on unitl midnight, but no parade...

the rickshaws

the streets in the courtyard

look -they ate with the locals and lived!!!

Our hostess for lunch

The kitchen - shown to us after lunch! ANd I complained about the one in Wisconsin...

Ty and Tian feeding a bird

It really wasn't as frightening as I look....here we on our way back to

Then we headed off to the Beijing Zoo to see the Pandas. They had 4 pandas who all performed for us. They look as cuddly as they do in the pictures. We got to watch one eat bamboo - as Tian put it, "That's was too much in your mouth!" They peeled off the bark of the bamboo very quckly - with a bite and then pulled strips off with thier teeth, they they chewed the stalks, then took handfuls of leaves they pulled off and shoved them in their mouth other time he held the leaves in a bunch and took huge bites of the tightly held bundle.. It was not a neat process and a lot ended up all over him, the ground etc - so there is a lot of wasted bamboo. They did seem as if you could just grab one and hug them though. The zoo was very different from zoos inthe US - you could get relatively close to the pandas and the walls were not very high...it makes one wonder if the Chinese public has more common sense than we do...they know better than to jump in an enclosure with the bears...

I thought it was only the Romans who ate lying down.... he kind of rolled around while he ate

We then had some extra time and got to spend some time at a local department/grocery store. They boys had never been before so it was fun. 3 levels of shopping..."I pods" for $50, fresh fish, duckheads, chicken feet, a virtual Chinese Wal-Mart. By the way, Wal-Mart has invaded China.

Chinese parking lot

the deli counter

Following the shopping excursion we saw an acrobatic show - WAY COOL. The boys and Tian were all amazed ( as were Tara and I ). Ty announced he's going to sign up for acrobatic lessons. We saw tumbling acts, juggling acts, many tricks involving ropes, straps, nets, and poles, and an act involving traditional chinese masks.

We all really had a fun day! Tomorrow we leave Beijing and head for the baby's province - Guiyang.

We'll attach pictures tomorrow and send more blog info....