Hutong Rickshaw Tour

I can't tell you how happy I am that Doug and I felt good enough to go on this tour. It was amazing! We did the rickshaw tour with two other families in our travel group, as well as a nice sized group of people who used our agency to adopt their daughters 10 years ago - they were making the trip back to China.

We traveled via rickshaw through the area of Hutong - old Beijing. We drove through the extremely narrow streets and alleyways of Hutong and made several stops along the tour. First, we stopped at the home of a family who has lived in their Hutong home for 54 years. We sat in their living room and had a nice question and answer session. Then we visited a kindergarten class. The kids performed two songs for us - so cute! Then we went to the Drum Tower which overlooks Hutong. We climbed up 69 very steep steps to get to the top - ugh! Last, we had lunch in another Hutong home. Before we ate, our tour guide showed us how to make dumplings. Then the lady of the household prepared us the most phenomenal food. It is the best Chinese food I have ever had - seriously.

I do actually feel bad about something. Doug and I are not the skinniest people in the world, and I felt a little sorry for our rickshaw driver - LOL! He did well though - he got us where we needed to go. Our agency guide told our group how much we needed to tip our drivers when we were finished. So, we tipped him what we were told. Then we spoke to someone in our travel group who told us that they tipped their driver double. We really didn't know that we could do that. Tipping is a touchy subject in China. We really wanted to tip more because our driver was so nice, but we didn't. Now I feel bad. He probably thought we were cheap Americans!

Ok - here are some pics!

Line of rickshaws waiting for customers.

Doug and I in our rickshaw.

The grandmother at the first Hutong home.

The cutest kindergarten class ever!

The Drum Tower performance.

Doug enjoying the delicious lunch at the second home. The girl sitting next to him just adopted her baby girl through our agency and she and her husband are doing Beijing on the back end of their trip (her hubby was on the other side of the room with her new little one).

What an amazing day! We have the rest of the evening to ourselves now. Tomorrow - Great Wall of China, Jade Factory and Beijing Acrobats!

Oh - and it may look like it is an overcast day in these pictures. Not the case. It is so smoggy here in Beijing that the sun cannot make it through the crud layering this place. I can't believe how bad the air quality is. It was very humid today, but not unbearable. Maybe it is because the sun can't beat down on us!