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!