More Beijing Sites

The Beijing Trip was so enjoyable even though it was very cold and snowy. We got to watch the changing of the guard at Tianenmen Square. It was snowy and cloudy and lots of people, but we still were able to get some pictures. We were just moseying along afterwards and not paying any attention to others when the Red Guard came and insisted that we get out of the square - Kicked out of Tianenmen Square! :-) So we decided to go to the Forbidden City and take a look since it was only about 6:30. After wandering around and looking at the sites a bit, our other teacher was doing some shopping at one of the stands when here came the Red Guard again. They kept saying something in Chinese which we couldn't understand. Finally we were surrounded by eight soldiers and one of them was urging us to leave the premises "quickly! quickly!". We were being kicked out - again! I guess that is a record to be kicked out of two places by the Red Guard in one night! :-) (Really they were wanting to close the place). Here are two little kids that we saw with their dad at the Forbidden City.
We had a great hotpot dinner in Beijing where one side is spicy and the other is mild. You order the meats and vegetables that you want and the pot has a burner under it. You put the meats and veggies in and cook them. Yum-yum!

We also had the famous Peking Duck meal while in Beijing. I had to take a picture of one of the dishes on the menu. Of course we couldn't imagine eating these critters, but it is apparently considered a delicacy here.

And then we had to find the local steak house called McDonalds. That sure made Jim happy. After tackling the silk market we decided we had gone through the gauntlet of people grabbing us and trying to get us into their stalls to buy something that it was time to call it a night. We decided we like the Tian Yi market much better since we could look without being hassled although there were still hordes of people and it was very difficult to get through the isles. Even though they don't celebrate Christmas, there were plenty of Christmas decorations around.

I got fairly decent at bargaining with the sellers at the markets. Although I am sure I got the worst end of the deal several times. :-) You have to think quick and convert the Renmimbi into US dollars in your head while you are trying to bargain.

Jim was able to get a beautiful wool overcoat tailor made for him while we were there too. The proprietor was so honest that he made a special trip to our Hutong to return a hundred yuan that he thought Jim had overpaid. (He could have easily said oh well it was his mistake).