07/03/12

Hot, Busy and did I mention Hot?

It was very hot and busy today but it was beautiful!  Blue sky and very little pollution was a welcome site! 

We started off at the Temple of Heaven which has some amazing artistry in it.  The ceilings are all made from wood and there is not one nail in the structure!  This is all the original paint-so bright and colorful!

 

 On the walk to the Temple, there are vendors everywhere and boy are they aggressive!!  They just shove whatever they are selling in your face and they don't let up!  Although I was very tempted to buy a $5.00 Rolex :-)

Inside the property there were people dancing or doing calligraphy on the sidewalk.



 


 Then it was off to the silk factory and the rickshaw ride to a local family's home for lunch in the hutong area.  The food was delicious and it was very interesting to see how simply the people in the hutong's live.  The property looks like nothing much to our American eyes, but it is worth a lot to the families financially and emotionally.

 

 

 

  After the hutong, we went to the Chinese government office to briefly see the match room and the kids got to have a cultural lesson about China.  They learned about the language, calligraphy and paper cutting.  They also received a beautiful book about paper cutting that we can't wait to try out.  It was very nice and the officials are very nice and seem to genuinely care about our kids!


 

 

 

 

I have pics from the Summer Palace from yesterday but I'm waaay too sleepy to post them right now. 

Tomorrow we're off to the Great Wall and the Hall of the People for a special ceremony for our kids!

'Nite 'Nite