Day 2 in China

Another beautiful day in Beijing!  The sky was clear and the sun was out, although it was quite cold and windy.  We had a full morning of walking through the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Our tour lasted about 2.5 hours.  We were all quite frozen and anxious to hurry our tour along.  I'm sure it would have been much more enjoyable at a leisurely pace and learning more history, but even bundled up from head to toe and using hand warmers (thank you to whomever suggested that!), we were all very cold and ready to sprint to our warm bus!

Gate at Tiananmen Square

One of the many dragon headed, other animal bodied statues.

Moat outside the Forbidden City

Again the history surrounding this amazing area of Beijing is incredible.  Not once did our kiddos complain or whine, and some of them even asked questions to our wonderful guide, Nancy.   Again, we, and especially our kiddos got their pictures taken many times.  One lady forced her toddler to stand next to Ethan to get their picture taken together.  Thankfully we can all just laugh about it.  

We ate another wonderful traditional Chinese meal with a Holt staff.  We had beef, duck, chicken, eggplant, sweet and sour fish (the entire fish was on the plate!), spicy soup, rice, tea, and much more! The kids tried much of the food and Jonny lost a tooth during lunch!

Eggplant in plum sauce in foreground, and whole sweet and sour fish in background

We then went to a silk factory and learned about the life cycle of the silk worm and how the cocoons are harvested and the silk is taken off the cocoon in thin strands.  In a single cocoon, there is over 3,000 feet of thin silk.  Everyone got a chance to stretch the gathered silk into a large form, which was the size of a double bed comforter.  Many layers of silk are added together to create comforters for beds.  The silk store was fun to go through, and see the beautiful scarves, shirts, dresses, and wall hangings.  

We wandered down to the mall and visited a large multi level Apple Store. We ate dinner at ... Pizza Hut.  It was actually very yummy, albeit the fanciest Pizza Hut we've ever been to.  The mall was huge and had many higher end stores and completely decorated for Christmas.  We were shocked to see Christmas trees, garland, ornaments, santa clause pictures, and Christmas music playing.  Our guide was explaining that the young Chinese have started to recently include Christmas decor in the stores, hotels, restaurants, but it is still not a holiday in China. Most families do not celebrate Christmas at home and no offices are closed on December 25th.  

Panda statue at really large and modern mall

Kiddos playing at the Apple Store

Interesting advertisement for a restaurant within the mall.  

We then visited the Night Market in Beijing.  The long row of red tents with lit up lanterns was fun to explore.  Each tent was a food vendor that was preparing and selling rice and noodle dishes along with see creatures, bugs, and meat on a stick (usually deep fried).  Fried bananas and fruit kabobs were special desserts offered as well. We wisely ate dinner prior to going to the night market, as the food was not very appetizing, although the atmosphere was fabulous.

Night Market in Beijing. Many interesting food items here.

Squid and Stingray at Night Market

Pigeon

Sea Horse and White Snake

Lobster and fried Shrimp

Our awesomely talented and equally as sweet guide, Nancy!

Some of the kiddos spent the rest of the evening swimming.  We are hoping with as many miles as we walked today, that our bodies will allow us to sleep past 4:00AM.  Tomorrow we travel by train to Hebei Province.  We are almost there!