Day 1--Hutong

Friday, May 1

Since we are here a day prior to most of the other families, at our guide Sherry's suggestion we joined the Wilcox family for a morning tour of Hutong--otherwise known as Old Beijing and is located near Tiannamen Square and Forbidden City. Hutong is the Mongolian word for water well. The word has come to be the name for narrow streets. The streets in this part of the city are populated mostly by rickshaws. Our families took several rickshaws around the area which was nice because it was raining lightly.

As part of the tour we were taken into the home of one of the residents. All homes in this part of the city are one story since only royalty/emperor had homes taller. The home we saw has been in this family for four generations which is a bit unusual. Most of the homes are government owned and occupied by poor workers. A few of the homes have been purchased by the very wealthy and may have as many as 20 rooms that open onto a large courtyard. The home we saw was smaller, had a small courtyard and about half as many rooms.

We ate lunch at a local restaurant that specialized in Shezhuan food. We had much more than we could eat: lotus root, kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, fried pumpkin, crunchy sesame rice, fish flavored eggplant, other things that are not coming to mind now, and fruit (watermelon and orange slice) for dessert.

This afternoon will be spent mostly relaxing. We may meet up with the Wilcox's (who are from Idaho) for some exploring and swimming later.