Day 1 continued:

Our rickshaw tour complete, we were dropped off at a Hutong home. A lady allows people to take a look at her home and the courtyard and will even feed you lunch if you like. We totally wanted lunch in a Hutong! It was only about $6 per person. We had no idea what to expect but were ready to try something new.

Inside the courtyard area:

Peter, our guide, led us to one area of her home. There was some beautiful, old furniture in there that he talked about. Then we were led to a room where we could have lunch. The owner got the table set up for us and got us drinks.

Jamie was super happy with our Chinese Coke!

William ordered water. She brought him a cup of hot water. Poor thing. He didn't drink it. She brought us a ton of food. Dumplings, rice, some sort of green veggies, zucchini, carrots and chicken.

The dumplings were fabulous as was the green veggies. The zucchini was a cold dish that I didn't care for too much. I tried asking our host what the green veggies were. She got Peter for us since she didn't speak English. Peter asked her for me, and he told me it was SPINACH!! I couldn't believe it! I was so shocked. The spinach was my favorite dish. It was seasoned so well. I absolutely loved it. Sometimes it's nice not to know what you are eating. 

We finished lunch and walked to the courtyard where our host played this instrument. Peter was telling us that it is a 21-stringed instrument common in China. Michael asked what the name of the instrument is in English. Peter said..."a 21-stringed instrument." We got a kick out of that.

We thanked our host and left her home, happy and full. 

I love this decorative wall:

 Another hutong home:

McDonald's is even in China!

We left the Hutong and headed to the Lama Temple (Yonghe Lamasery). It is the largest preserved lamasery in Beijing. It is a Buddhist lamasery of the Yellow Hat sect which is a sect mainly associated with Tibet.

The Chinese have strong beliefs in regard to certain numbers and animals on top of the buildings. The animals provide protection. Here you see seven animals. The emperor would have nine on top of his buildings.

A lot of people were here to burn incense and worship Buddha. It made me so sad.

This is a female dragon. The females are always on the left (facing them) and the male on the right. The female has a baby under her paw while a male has a ball under his paw.

This is Yonghe Gong Hall, built in 1694, it was used as a royal reception hall.

This is the Temple called the Hall of Infinite Happiness (Wanfuge). Inside stands an 85-foot-tall Tathagagata (Maltreya) Buddha made from a single Tibetan sandalwood tree and is in the Guinness World Book of Records! We were not allowed to take pictures inside. It was an enormous Buddha!

We left the Lama Temple. Our day with our guide and driver was over. We were taken back to the hotel.

Up next: The end of our first day in China!

Our Trip to China!

Day 1: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - We flew out of Seoul, South Korea late Monday night. Our flight was only two hours, and China is one hour behind SK. We were picked up at the Beijing Airport by Peter, our personal tour guide while in Beijing, and our driver, Zhang. We were taken straight to our hotel, the Beijing Penta Hotel. We chose only 4-star hotels since we were going to be in China and didn't know what to expect. We would do it again in a heartbeat! The Penta was beautiful. We were very pleased with our rooms. Michael's and my room was larger than the boys' room. Our room:

Jamie and William's room:

This was the only hotel they had to share a bed. Their bathroom was really small. It was strange. Our rooms were next to each other, but they were so different in size!

We went straight to bed. We had a long day coming.

In the morning, we had a wonderful breakfast buffet. A huge breakfast buffet was included with every hotel we stayed. It was great! After breakfast, Peter met us in the lobby, and we were off for our day's adventure. First up was a Rickshaw Tour through Beijing's Hutong. The Hutong is the old narrow paths with lots of courtyard homes where common people live. They are like villages within the city. 

I loved the people and seeing them in everyday life. 

It was hard to get a photo into a courtyard, but I finally did. Most people have their doors closed. You enter the door and find another alley. Building surround a small courtyard and several people can live in this one little area. It was fascinating and humbling. Every American should see this firsthand. No one would ever complain about not having enough money for things. China is a very poor country. We are so very blessed.

I wish this picture wasn't blurry. There were several men sitting in a row eating lunch, and all of them had three onions. I'm not sure if they typically eat three onions for lunch or what, but I found it very interesting. 

That is all I'll write about today. More is coming. Stay tuned!

Up Next: Lunch in a Hutong and visiting the Lama Temple.