Pedicabs in Hutong neighborhood

Well, we are on our final day in Beijing now. The day was visiting the Hutong village in Beijing. There aren't much of these areas left. So many thousands of the poorest Beijing residents were moved out of the areas, the buildings razed to make way for the new big buildings that were built once Beijing won the Olympics. These old homes that we had a chance to visit were houses that had been on many peoples families for one or two hundred years. each home typically had an inner court yard, outdoor and indoor kitchen, living area and bedrooms. The entire community used neighborhood "toilets" - of course they were not toilets - they are all squats and by the way, they got about a 1.5 rating! We toured this area on the pedicabs. Ben got to sit one one which was a perfect photo op. Ben and Herb shared one pedicab and Hannah and I shared another. The guys riding the bicycles pulling them were tough guys, made very little money and were gracious, polite and spoke not a word of English.

Herb and Ben.

Hannah and Me above. We just love this panda fan picture of Hannah - it is a very mischievous smile behind that fan. Celia is sitting with her. The girls were having a great time. We would get off of the pedicabs at different stops. We went to a market (food pictures to follow), stopped at a home to tour. We then went to one house where the kids all learned to make kites from a famous kitemaker - woman who has been making them for over 30 years. We also had lunch at her home. Her sister and she cooked for half of us and the other half went to another home who also hosted and they also had a home cooked meal. Pictures will follow on next post.