Beijing - Day 2 - Saturday, February 20 - nope not the wall yet

Saturday morning started out with breakfast in the hotel – another buffet that combined both Western and Chinese breakfast and we also saw another Semester at Sea trip. We are now almost 200 people strong at the Courtyard Marriott. It was time to visit Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world. It is where the famous college student riots in Beijing occurred and where Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China. We took lots of pictures in the square and with Mao in the background.

Not sure why I am so happy to have a pic with Mao and yes it was cold!

We continued on to the Forbidden City which housed 2 different emperors and at those times were not open to the “common” people. They say that the Forbidden City is the best preserved site of Classical Chinese architecture…I just think it is pretty!!!

The more important you are the more fun little creatures you have on your roof protecting you.

This is where I would like to note that part of being a trip/bus leader is having to deal with student concerns or issues. And without going into any details a good majority of my time at the Forbidden City was taken up working through a student concern. I took a good handful of pics but I am not really sure what I was taking pictures of.

I do know that this is the gate of Heavenly Purity…I walked through does this mean I am now pure?? Who knows???

After all of the walking we did through the Forbidden City it was time for lunch (more food…and there may be more pork!!!). We took rickshaws through a Hutong Village to a local family’s house. It was interesting because these rickshaws were not the kind that locals would take to go to a market or visit a friend but clearly something that was a tourist attraction. Not only were non Chinese people going on these tours but we also saw Chinese tourists who were visiting this area. We were split into 6 groups and headed off to 6 different families.

Here I am with one of our students, Jenny, she drew the short straw and had to ride with me: 

When we arrived at our family we were first given a lesson in dumpling making and then served a homemade feast…again delicious!!!

Here are our hosts:

After lunch it was back on our rickshaws and we met up with the rest of the group, got on our busses and headed to the Beijing Olympic Village. Because the Olympics were just held there in 2008 a lot of work had been done to the city including modernization of buildings, adding English to street signs, some major construction and of course the creation of new Olympics facilities including the Bird Nest and the Bubble Aquatics Center (where Michael Phelps won all of his metals). Unfortunately we only had about 15 minutes to explore this massive site but we were able to snap a few pictures before heading back on the bus.

Next we went to a silk factory where we learned the silk making process. I know that silkworms make silk but until I actually saw this process I was not able to conceptualize it.

The tour only took about 10 minutes and then the rest of the time was supposed to be for us to buy silk products. Instead of buying things from hear we asked if the guides would take everyone who wanted to the Pearl Market. This market is where we had been told you can buy good knock off goods. The students were really excited about this option and we headed off. Again I was good and did not buy any purses!!!

The dinner this evening would prove to be my favorite, though it began kind of iffy with some sort of gelatinous meat. But ultimately we were eating Peking Duck. It was so good as were all of the dishes that accompanied it, the combination of flavors were amazing and they were cutting the duck right before our very eyes!!!
Gelatinous meat:

Me trying Gelatinous Meat:

Duck!!!!!