We had another fabulous day in Beijing! We started out by taking a hutong tour and riding the rickshaws through the "hutongs." This is the way most people used to live years ago. Even our guide grew up living in a Hutong. It was several rooms with a courtyard in the middle where a family and their married children would live, or sometimes it could even consist of 12 families or more sharing a courtyard. The oldtimers still prefer to live in the hutong instead of apartment complexes. Most young people and families now live in apartments due to the over population of Beijing. There are NO houses or neighborhoods like we are used to. This tour was so informative. The older gentleman further down took us into his home and showed us around.
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| The rickshaws. |
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| This hutong was purchased by his grandfather a hundred or more years ago. |
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| This is the shared courtyard. |
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| There was a "wedding room" where a couple had gotten married in the past, and they just left it decorated. The owner wanted Craig and I to put on the scarves, then he told us to kiss! |
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| Their kitchen. |
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| A guest bedroom. |
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| The alleys in between the hutongs. |
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| A foggy view of the Olympic Birdsnest |
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The ice cub
Next we traveled to the Great Wall! It was amazing! |
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| This is our guide Vanessa on the far right! She has been fabulous. |
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| This is Craig and Brett being silly. They are two peas in a pod! Very funny together!! |
After the Great Wall, we traveled about 50 minutes to get to the Summer Palace. This is the place where the Emperor used to go to "get away" in the summer time!
I'm having a little trouble posting my pictures. It's taking such a long time, so I will probably come back and add more at a later time. We had such a wonderful day and we even found a real Chinese restaurant to eat at tonight! It was sooo good! We loved the Spring rolls! We have to get up around 4:30 am in order to eat and leave the hotel at 6:20am. We have a very early flight to Nanchang. We will get Ava sometime tomorrow afternoon! So the next post should be of our Gotcha Day!!!! Please pray that her grieving will be minimal and we will be able to comfort her. Pray for us that we will know what to do!!!! Thank you :)
Isn't the GW amazing? It was really rainy and cloudy the day we were there, so I think we need a re-visit! We are beyond excited for you all! Glad you have enjoyed your time in Beijing, but it's about to get REAL! Little Ava - what a miracle journey you all have ALREADY travelled to meet this little girl! I can't even tell you how immediately I will be checking your blog for the GOTCHA!
ReplyDeleteDoug will be missing Laura today as they go to band competition!
Prayin for you guys! CAN'T wait for the next post!!! Tears already!:-)
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures! Praying for you all and sweet Ava. May her little heart know that she is finally HOME in her mama's and baba's arms!!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost time!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you all are UP and going! Today is one of those days that you all will remember forever! How exciting is that? What a miracle that will unfold right before your eyes today! I'm just so excited, I can hardly stand it. I may sleep with my laptop right beside me!
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