Hutong Tour and Tea Ceremony

Sep 20, travel day to Xi'an

An exciting day, as we fly from Beijing to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.

But first Mike just has to share some pics from the breakfast and dinner buffets we had at the JW Marriott

As we had a flight later in the day, we were offered a rickshaw tour thru a local hutong village. Hutongs are like cooperative areas of Beijing with a cluster of living quarters, cooking facilities, shared restrooms, and small businesses.

These have a history of hundreds of years, yet are no longer efficient ways to house Beijing's residents.

We stopped part way to visit a residence. An older lady and her niece opened their home to us for some tea, and to show the niece's artwork. The lady did not speak any English, so our guide provided a translation of her talk, and to ask and answer questions.

After the talk and demonstration, we reboarded our rickshaws and traveled to the Bell and Drum Tower area where we participated in a tea ceremony.

After the tea ceremony, we walked to our bus for the trip to the Beijing Airport for our flight to Xi'an.

Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

Sep 19, Tuesday

Tiananmen Square has a lot of history. Though only a mile away from our hotel, we took a 30 minute bus ride to get there. Traffic!

Also on the square is Mao's tomb, and it seemed like there were already thousands of visitors lined up to see it; almost exclusively Chinese

One of the original gates on the Beijing city wall

The Square is in front of the entrance to the Imperial Palace

To get to the Forbidden City, there is a pedestrian tunnel under the major street separating it from Tiananmen Square.

We went in a side entrance to avoid the crowds, entering thru a quiet park before entering the palace area.

Once we got into the Forbidden City area, the crowds were quite visible.

The number of dragons on the roof corner determines how important a building is

Mike makes an appearance in the photos

...and again!

A goldfish bowl

Very important! Count the dragons!

Just north of the Forbidden City. The feng shui masters constructed the hill from the excavations of the Forbidden City

Outer moat at north entrance of Forbidden City

Upon returning to the hotel after our visit, yepp, Deb and Mike went on another walk. Along the way, we found this Performing Arts Center on the west side of Tiananmen Square. The building is completely surrounded by a moat with no bridge whatsoever. To enter, one goes underground to park and to enter the venue.

We visited the hutong area from the other day, on our quest to find the huge park adjacent to the Forbidden City, but again we ran out of time. We returned to the hotel for the group dinner, at the hotel next to the Peking Opera House.

An example of one of our dinners

Found this sign in building next to our restaurant

Large mural in lobby of restaurant at Peking Opera House