How lucky were we?! We found a street market where the locals had come to stock up with all kinds of food, from veggies to meat. They load it on every type of vehicle from bicycles to motorized bicycles to carts....they then take it out to sell. Target rich environment! After they all went on their way, we walked down to a bridge and into a park. Never enough time!
Mr. Stone picked us up at 10 sharp and we headed for the Hutong or old village. There are a few places left in Beijing, a city of 20 million people, where the locals can still own the land and their humble homes. The rest must rent and after 70 years the government gets the apartments back. They took us through the area by rickshaw with lunch at a local home. Wow was it SMALL! Two families lived in the space so small....two rooms of 10x20 and two more on top. No bathroom. They all use public toilets to shower and do their business. 10¥ for a shower. The food was remarkably good. The man had been a chef for 34 years and it showed. He liked John! A theme that would repeat. People were fascinated by him throughout China.
We left there and headed to the a Summer Palace. I think there was smoke coming out of John's camera! There was a painted hall that was 700 meter long and had 10,000 painted pictures! He shot and shot.Cheri followed suit. Together they really depicted the hall, but upon reflection realized they only scratched the surface!
Reluctantly it was time to leave so we headed to the airport and our final, goodbye to Mr. Stone. The next thing on tap was Chengdu and the Panda Research Center. We were met at the airport by our guide Ping. We made sure she was going to pick us up so we could be with the Panda's by 8:30. She was reluctant, but agreed.
Enjoy!
Cheri & John
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