Day 1 Beijing

 Friday April 5^th

Link to photos

This was our first full day in China.  We met several of the families from our group at breakfast.  Then we headed out to start touring.   It has been great seeing George again, he was our guide last time and we laughed about the snow storm and being stuck at the airport. 

Since we are here during the tomb sweeping festival we had to modify plans a bit.  First was the Hutong tour.   The Hutong is an old area of Beijing that has homes set up around courtyards.  We traveled by Rickshaw during this tour.  We visited the home of Mrs. Wu who served us tea and snacks and told us about her life in the Hutong.

Then we were off to the silk factory where they make silk garments and comforters etc.  It is neat to see how they make the silk stretch out to create these wonderful covers.   We then had a wonderful lunch with some outstanding flavors all selected by our guide George. 

Next we walked to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.   It was so crowded due to the holiday today,   It was also very windy and cold today.    We really enjoyed the tour and the time getting to know our travel group.

Finally we were able to go to the Wu Mart (like a Wal Mart but not as nice) to pick up a few supplies.  

Tomorrow is the Great Wall tour, the Jade Factory and finally an acrobatic show.   Oh and one neat note is so far we know of at least 4 little boys being adopted in our group and they are all about the same age.  

Sorry unable to get any photos to post on the blog but added a link that will hopefully work,  If you are a facebook friend of ours you can check out photos there.  We will try to post again tomorrow.