First Full Day in Beijing

Another Way You Know You're Not At Home:

No One Speaks English!
Street Food is something we kill or put in trash.

Sunday, first full day in Beijing - COLD & Foggy! Visited a local street market on the way to Tianamem Square. Street food here is not hot dogs and pretzels, it's fried locusts, chicken hearts and baby birds. We passed on this culinary experience. Fog is not good for pictures. After the market, we walked through Tiananmen Square, symbolic center and political heart of the country where in 1989 student protestors were mowed down by communist soldiers.

Next stop was Forbidden City - ancient home to past emperors, their concubines and eunichs for 5 centuries. It was not meant to be a home for mortal kings but for the Son of Heaven, the divinely appointed intermediary between heaven (yang) and earth (yin) who was responsible for peace, prosperity and order on earth. Hmmmm!

We must look Really different - everyone seems to stare at us. Young people even accost us on the street - at first we were uneasy, but then we realized that they just wanted to try out their English.

Late afternoon, visited a "hutong" - Chinese living concept. Houses built in "quadrangles" - one next to another, open courtyard in the middle, parents or grandparents occupy northern room (the best). Visited by trishaw. Stopped and entered two, one upscale and one average , for a few $ of course. Did I mention that it's COLD!