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.