Our Great Hutong Adventure!

After starting out our day hanging out at the local bank (our hotel does not exchange money :( ) we joined two other families on a grand adventure through Beijing. After hailing 3 cabs for the 13 of us, we played frogger with the rest of Beijing. We had asked to be dropped off to do the Hutong tour. Well we got dropped off in a spot, which at the time, seemed a bit nuts. After an hour or so walking detour through areas that were definitly NOT tourist spots, we finally found the area we were looking for. Kudos to our 2 great tour guides, Tom and Perry!! We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this area on foot. I had originally wanted to rent a rickshaw but instead we hired a rickshaw drivier as a tour guide. We definitly saw stuff off the beaten path!! Very cool. It is sad that so many of these old homes are being demolished to make room for Beijing's olympics! We had a blast of a day exploring and getting to know the other two families. The kids did great! Jacob has made a friend with another Jacob who is his age. To two of them have had a great time together! We also toured the gardens of an old palace - lots of neat rock formations and LOTS of Chinese tourists!
Getting home was an adventure in and of itself - taxis did not want to take Americans in this area. Made for a very difficult drive back to the hotel! Perry, aka the Great Negotiator, got us a discount on our dinner back at the hotel (they have buffet and dance show each night but we didn't want the show and dinner wias pray expensive so they gave us 100 yuan off if dinner
All the kids are wiped and I'm trying not to fall asleep at the computer. Check out the extra photos to the left. Tomorrow is Tianneman Square and the Great Wall. We are praying for clearer weather. There has been a foggy haze in the air all day which has made things difficult to see. Prayin that it goes away!