On our last day in Beijing, we headed out to explore the hutongs, a very old residential section of Beijing that they have preserved.
All week we’ve seen huge pollen puffs floating through the air. The kids thought it was snow – it was that heavy at times. They loved playing with it – I watched in absolute horror, of course.
Mommy and Maile at the start of our Hutong tour - this was one of the wider sections...
We rode rickshaws through the hutongs - it was a really cool way to get around!
The kids outside the Bell Tower...
We had to climb ALL these stairs to get to the top - we counted - there were 70 of them.
At the top we watched a Taiko drumming demonstration
As part of the tour we visited with a couple families that actually live in the hutongs. The first family showed us their apartment and answered our questions – the kids even practiced their Chinese with the wife a bit. The husband was an artist and we bought one of his paintings – Maile picked it out. At the other stop, we ate a “home”-cooked meal. I put “home” in quotes as its obviously a tourist setup, but still has the feel of the hutong.
We ate lunch inside one of the hutongs where a family lives - it was pretty good!
This guy followed us around the hutongs for about a half hour - he started off asking 80 Yuan for his flutes, we finally bought them at 15.
And then Maile and her friends put on a show and took tips to make the money back (just kidding - no tips)
We told our guide that we wanted to get Maile a traditional Chinese outfit for Chinese New Year and other celebrations at PKS – so in the afternoon, he took us to a silk factory.
After the hutongs, we stopped at a silk factory on the way home and learned how silk worms make silk that gets turned into beautiful clothing...
This is the machine that extracts the fine silk threads from the cocoons.
And here is some of the silk that eventually becomes the stuffing for a blanket.
For our final evening in Beijing, we stayed up a bit late and headed to a Kung Fu Show. Even with some scary parts, Maile loved it and we made sure to take some pictures with the stars of the show afterwards.
Mommy and Maile outside the Kung Fu show - the building looked like it was on fire!
Maile with a couple of the stars of the show...
(Click here for the video.)
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