We had so much fun today:
1. We had breakfast in the hostel and the English breakfast, sandwich, omelet, etc. cooked by Chinese chef were really good!
2. After breakfast Robert did a great orientation that covered everything from Chinese language, culture, history, the overall schedule as well as dos and don't's. It was really helpful.
3. The kids were amazed by the Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. We took tons of photos.
4. We browsed the oldest Hutong district in Beijing on rickshaws. Lexy was eager to drive rickshaw with Dr. Xue as her passenger but was kindly declined by the rickshaw driver that "it's not a bicycle and requires lots of skills".
5. We had really authentic homemade food at a local family for lunch. It was again a feast. There were no forks and knives offered but chopsticks, but everyone managed to feed her/himself with plenty of food.
6. After lunch we continued our rickshaw trip to the Bell Tower. People come to strick this gigantic bell at the Chinese New Year with a gigantic log (what's the right word?). The kids laughed out loud on seeing the sign under the bell: DO NOT STRIKE THE BELL WITH COINS. We figured that striking it with little rocks would be ok?

We came back to the hotel for a much needed rest but hope that no one sneaked in a little nap - won't be helpful for adjusting our body clock to the schedule here. And we are heading to a XingJiang restaurant for dinner soon - perhaps another feast.

Photos to come.

Dr. Xue